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

MICHEL MARTIN, employment HOST: members have up until February 6 to decide whether to willingly leave their jobs. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, OPM, notified employees on Tuesday that if they hand in their resignation by next Thursday – that’s less than a week from now – most will be allowed to take leave and be paid until completion of September. Michelle Bercovici is an employment legal representative who represents federal staff members as a large part of her practice, so I asked her for her analysis about what OPM’s deferred resignation program would really mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I really do not consider it a lot a deal. I believe it’s a demand to resign with an unclear promise that, possibly, you might be kept in administrative leave status for up to eight months – however no guarantees.MARTIN: Some individuals have actually been utilizing the term buyout to explain what this is because there seems to be the offer of administrative leave for as much as 8 months if you take this offer. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would never describe it as a buyout. I believe that’s a very misleading term to use in this situation. When you consider a buyout, there’s usually some sort of composed agreement or a concrete deal to provide a benefit in exchange for waiving specific rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: 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 guarantees contained in this email. The only thing I can inform you for specific 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 worker who you think this might benefit? Maybe they’re close to retirement. Is somebody like that might this be an attractive offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement need to be the most cautious because leaving earlier than planned can have serious consequences, potentially, 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 want to return to the office. Let me just play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is a suggestion to federal employees that they have to return in – to work. And if they do not, then they have the option to resign, employment and this administration is extremely generously using to pay them for 8 months.MARTIN: You’re shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: It simply – in a manner, 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 remains in bad faith, that it’s designed to get folks who work truly hard to resign. I believe it’s trying to pull the wool over a great deal of individuals’s eyes since there are no guarantees. And these are individuals who like their task. They like the mission of the agency. They work hard. And today, they’re facing really difficult options, especially if they’re remote. I mean, it’s really coercive.MARTIN: You say it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, if you’re somebody who lives 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: Do you anticipate legal difficulties simply to the deal itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This offer, employment to be truthful, is so unmatched that I think a lot of us are still trying to determine what to do with it. I’m not sure if the offer itself might be challengeable. I believe the larger concern is the execution of these terms. I’m not familiar with any authority that exists right now for employment OPM to purchase firms to give this variety of people administrative leave. So I think it is quite perhaps setting the phase for difficulties because I feel OPM has greatly exceeded their authority.MARTIN: That is Michelle Bercovici. She is a work legal representative with the Alden Law Group here in Washington, D.C. Thank you so much for joining us.BERCOVICI: Thank you so much for having me here.

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