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

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal staff members have up until February 6 to decide whether to voluntarily leave their tasks. 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 depart and be paid up until the end of September. Michelle Bercovici is an employment lawyer who represents federal staff members as a big 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 a deal. I believe it’s a demand to resign with a vague pledge that, potentially, you might be kept in administrative leave status for as much as 8 months – but no guarantees.MARTIN: Some individuals have been utilizing the term buyout to describe what this is due to the fact that there appears to be the deal of administrative leave for up to 8 months if you take this deal. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would never describe it as a buyout. I believe that’s an extremely deceptive term to use in this situation. When you think about a buyout, there’s typically some sort of composed agreement or a concrete offer to provide a benefit in exchange for waiving particular rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If clients ask you for your suggestions, what are you informing them?BERCOVICI: First thing we tell them is workout severe care. There are no assurances included in this email. The only thing I can tell you for particular is that if you alter 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 category of staff member 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 cautious because leaving earlier than intended can have serious repercussions, possibly, employment 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 an excellent offer for people who do not wish to go back to the office. Let me simply play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is a suggestion to federal workers that they need to return in – to work. And if they do not, then they have the option to resign, and this administration is really generously using to pay them for eight months.MARTIN: You’re shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: It just – in a manner, it breaks my heart that federal employees are being jerked around like this. It sends out a signal to me that this return-to-office order remains in bad faith, employment that it’s created to get folks who work actually hard to resign. I believe it’s attempting to pull the wool over a great deal of individuals’s eyes because there are no guarantees. And these are people who like their task. They enjoy the objective of the agency. They strive. And today, they’re dealing with very tough choices, particularly if they’re remote. I suggest, it’s extremely coercive.MARTIN: You state it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, if you’re somebody 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 expect legal difficulties just to the offer itself? And if so, employment on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This offer, to be truthful, is so extraordinary that I believe a great deal of us are still trying to determine what to do with it. I’m not exactly sure if the deal itself might be challengeable. I think the larger question is the execution of these terms. I’m not familiar with any authority that exists right now for OPM to order to provide this variety of people administrative leave. So I think it is very much potentially setting the stage for obstacles since I feel OPM has actually significantly exceeded their authority.MARTIN: employment 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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