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

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal workers have till February 6 to choose whether to voluntarily leave their jobs. 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 employees as a large part of her practice, so I asked her for her analysis about what OPM’s deferred resignation program would in fact mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I actually do not consider it a lot an offer. I think it’s a request to resign with an unclear promise that, possibly, you might be kept in administrative leave status for as much as eight months – but no guarantees.MARTIN: Some people have actually been using the term buyout to explain what this is due to the fact that there appears to be the offer of administrative leave for approximately 8 months if you take this deal. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would never explain it as a buyout. I believe that’s an extremely deceptive term to utilize in this scenario. When you believe of a buyout, there’s typically some sort of composed arrangement or a concrete deal to offer a benefit in exchange for referall.us waiving specific rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If customers ask you for your guidance, what are you telling them?BERCOVICI: First thing we tell them is workout extreme care. There are no warranties included in this email. The only thing I can inform you for specific is that if you change your mind, the agency’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 employee who you believe this might ? Maybe they’re close to retirement. Is someone like that might this be an appealing offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement require to be the most careful 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 reporters that this is a bargain for people who do not wish 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 need to return in – to work. And if they do not, then they have the option to resign, and this administration is very generously offering 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 workers are being jerked around like this. It sends out a signal to me that this return-to-office order remains in bad faith, that it’s created to get folks who work actually hard to resign. I think it’s trying to pull the wool over a lot of people’s eyes since there are no guarantees. And these are individuals who enjoy their task. They enjoy the objective of the firm. They strive. And right now, they’re facing very hard choices, particularly if they’re remote. I mean, it’s really coercive.MARTIN: You say it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, if you’re someone who lives in Oregon and has been informed to report to D.C. otherwise we’re going to fire you, they might feel that they have no option than to take this option.MARTIN: Do you prepare for legal difficulties just 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 attempting to determine what to do with it. I’m uncertain if the offer itself might be challengeable. I think the bigger question is the execution of these terms. I’m not knowledgeable about any authority that exists today for OPM to buy firms to offer this number of individuals administrative leave. So I believe it is quite possibly setting the stage for challenges because I feel OPM has significantly surpassed their authority.MARTIN: That is Michelle Bercovici. She is a work lawyer with the Alden Law Group here in Washington, D.C. Thank you a lot for signing up with us.BERCOVICI: Thank you a lot for having me here.

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