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

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal workers have up until February 6 to choose whether to willingly leave their jobs. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, OPM, notified 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 up until completion of September. Michelle Bercovici is a work who represents federal staff members as a big part of her practice, so I asked her for her analysis about what OPM’s postponed resignation program would really mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I in fact don’t consider it so much a deal. I think it’s a request to resign with a vague guarantee that, potentially, you might be kept in administrative leave status for approximately 8 months – however no guarantees.MARTIN: Some individuals have actually been utilizing the term buyout to describe what this is due to the fact that there appears 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 absolutely not describe it as a buyout. I believe that’s a very misleading term to use in this circumstance. When you think about a buyout, there’s typically some sort of written agreement or a concrete offer to offer a benefit in exchange for waiving specific rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If clients ask you for your suggestions, what are you telling them?BERCOVICI: First thing we tell them is workout severe care. There are no assurances consisted of in this e-mail. The only thing I can tell you for particular is that if you alter your mind, the firm’s most likely not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are essentially quiting control over a lot.MARTIN: Is there some classification of staff member who you believe this might benefit? Maybe they’re close to retirement. Is someone like that may this be an attractive offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement need to be the most cautious due to the fact that leaving earlier than intended can have major repercussions, potentially, on their benefits.MARTIN: Let me just 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 desire to return to the workplace. Let me just play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is a recommendation to federal workers that they have to return in – to work. And if they do not, then they have the option to resign, and this administration is extremely 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 created to get folks who work really difficult to resign. I think it’s attempting to pull the wool over a lot of people’s eyes due to the fact that there are no assurances. And these are people who love their job. They enjoy the objective of the firm. They strive. And right now, they’re dealing with really tough choices, particularly if they’re remote. I indicate, it’s extremely coercive.MARTIN: You state it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, if you’re someone who lives in Oregon and has been told 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 expect legal difficulties simply to the deal itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This deal, akropolistravel.com to be honest, is so unprecedented that I believe a lot of us are still attempting to find out what to do with it. I’m unsure if the deal itself may be challengeable. I think the bigger question is the execution of these terms. I’m not familiar with any authority that exists right now for OPM to order agencies to give this number of individuals administrative leave. So I think it is quite potentially setting the phase for difficulties since I feel OPM has actually significantly surpassed their authority.MARTIN: That is Michelle Bercovici. She is an employment lawyer with the Alden Law Group here in Washington, D.C. Thank you a lot for joining us.BERCOVICI: Thank you so much for having me here.

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