Employment Lawyer Discusses what Trump Offer to Federal Employees to Resign Would Do

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal employees have until February 6 to choose whether to voluntarily leave their tasks. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, OPM, informed workers on Tuesday that if they hand in their resignation by next Thursday – that’s less than a week from now – most will be permitted to take leave and be paid till completion of September. Michelle Bercovici is an employment attorney who represents federal staff members as a big part of her practice, so I asked her for her analysis about what OPM’s delayed resignation program would really mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I in fact do not consider it so much a deal. I think it’s a request to resign with an unclear guarantee that, potentially, you could be kept in administrative leave status for approximately eight months – but no guarantees.MARTIN: Some individuals have been using the term buyout to explain what this is because there seems to be the deal of administrative leave for approximately eight months if you take this deal. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would never explain it as a buyout. I think that’s a really deceptive term to use in this circumstance. When you consider a buyout, there’s generally some sort of composed contract or a concrete deal to provide an advantage in exchange for waiving particular rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If customers ask you for your advice, what are you informing them?BERCOVICI: First thing we tell them is workout severe caution. There are no warranties contained in this e-mail. The only thing I can tell you for specific is that if you alter your mind, employment the firm’s most likely not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are basically quiting control over a lot.MARTIN: Is there some classification of worker who you think this might benefit? Maybe they’re close to retirement. Is someone like that may this be an appealing offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement need to be the most mindful due to the fact that leaving earlier than planned can have major repercussions, possibly, on their benefits.MARTIN: Let me simply play a clip from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. She told press reporters that this is a great deal for people who do not wish to go back to the workplace. Let me simply play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: employment This is an idea to that they need to return in – to work. And if they don’t, employment then they have the option to resign, and this administration is really generously using to pay them for 8 months.MARTIN: You’re shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: It just – in such a way, it breaks my heart that federal workers are being jerked around like this. It sends out a signal to me that this return-to-office order is in bad faith, that it’s designed to get folks who work really difficult to resign. I think it’s trying to pull the wool over a great deal of individuals’s eyes because there are no assurances. And these are people who enjoy their task. They enjoy the objective of the firm. They work hard. And today, they’re facing really hard choices, particularly if they’re remote. I imply, it’s really coercive.MARTIN: You say it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, if you’re someone who resides in Oregon and has been informed to report to D.C. or else we’re going to fire you, they might feel that they have no option than to take this option.MARTIN: Do you anticipate legal challenges simply to the offer itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This offer, to be honest, is so unprecedented that I think a great deal of us are still attempting to figure out what to do with it. I’m uncertain if the offer itself might be challengeable. I think the larger concern is the execution of these terms. I’m not familiar with any authority that exists today for OPM to order agencies to give this number of individuals administrative leave. So I think it is extremely much perhaps setting the stage for challenges because I feel OPM has vastly exceeded their authority.MARTIN: That is Michelle Bercovici. She is an employment attorney with the Alden Law Group here in Washington, D.C. Thank you a lot for joining us.BERCOVICI: Thank you a lot for having me here.

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