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

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal employees have up until February 6 to choose whether to voluntarily leave their tasks. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, OPM, informed employees 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 depart and be paid up until the end of September. Michelle Bercovici is an employment attorney who represents federal workers as a large part of her practice, so I asked her for her interpretation about what OPM’s postponed resignation program would really mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I really do not consider it a lot an offer. I think it’s a demand to resign with a vague guarantee that, possibly, you could be kept in administrative leave status for approximately eight months – but no guarantees.MARTIN: Some individuals have actually been using the term buyout to describe what this is since there seems to be the offer of administrative leave for as much as eight months if you take this deal. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would definitely not describe it as a buyout. I think that’s a very deceptive term to use in this scenario. When you think about a buyout, employment there’s usually some sort of written arrangement or a concrete deal to supply an advantage in exchange for waiving certain rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: employment If clients ask you for your advice, what are you informing them?BERCOVICI: First thing we inform them is exercise severe caution. There are no warranties included in this email. The only thing I can tell you for particular is that if you change your mind, the company’s probably not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are essentially giving up control over a lot.MARTIN: Exists some classification of employee who you believe this might benefit? Maybe they’re close to retirement. Is someone like that may this be an appealing offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement require to be the most careful because leaving earlier than intended can have severe 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 bargain for individuals who don’t desire to return to the office. Let me just play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is a recommendation to federal employees that they have to return in – to work. And if they don’t, then they have the alternative to resign, employment and this administration is really kindly using to pay them for 8 months.MARTIN: You’re shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: It just – in a method, it breaks my heart that federal employees are being jerked around like this. It sends a signal to me that this return-to-office order is in bad faith, that it’s developed to get folks who work actually difficult to resign. I believe it’s attempting to pull the wool over a great deal of individuals’s eyes since there are no warranties. And these are people who enjoy their job. They love the objective of the agency. They strive. And employment today, they’re facing extremely difficult choices, especially if they’re remote. I indicate, it’s very coercive.MARTIN: You state it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, if you’re somebody who resides in Oregon and has been told to report to D.C. otherwise we’re going to fire you, they might feel that they have no choice than to take this option.MARTIN: employment Do you expect legal difficulties simply to the offer itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This deal, to be truthful, is so unprecedented that I believe a great deal of us are still trying to find out what to do with it. I’m uncertain if the deal itself might be challengeable. I think the larger question is the execution of these terms. I’m not mindful of any authority that exists today for OPM to buy companies to provide this variety of individuals administrative leave. So I think it is quite possibly setting the phase for difficulties since I feel OPM has significantly 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 so much for joining us.BERCOVICI: Thank you a lot for having me here.

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