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

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal workers have up until February 6 to decide whether to willingly 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 enabled to depart and be paid until the end of September. Michelle Bercovici is an employment lawyer who represents federal workers as a big part of her practice, so I asked her for her interpretation about what OPM's delayed resignation program would really mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I actually don't consider it so much an offer. I think it's a request to resign with an unclear pledge that, possibly, you might be kept in administrative leave status for up to 8 months - however no guarantees.MARTIN: Some individuals have been using the term buyout to explain what this is because there appears to be the offer of administrative leave for shkola.mitrofanovka.ru up to 8 months if you take this offer. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would never describe it as a buyout. I think that's an extremely deceptive term to utilize in this circumstance. When you believe of a buyout, there's generally some sort of written contract or a concrete offer to supply a benefit in exchange for waiving specific rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If clients ask you for your recommendations, what are you informing them?BERCOVICI: First thing we inform them is exercise severe care. There are no assurances included in this e-mail. The only thing I can tell 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 worker 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 serious effects, potentially, on their benefits.MARTIN: Let me just play a clip from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. She informed reporters that this is a bargain for people who don't wish to go back to the office. Let me simply play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is an idea to federal employees that they have to return in - to work. And if they don't, larsaluarna.se then they have the choice to resign, and this administration is very kindly providing to pay them for eight 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 developed to get folks who work actually difficult to resign. I think it's attempting to pull the wool over a lot of people's eyes because there are no guarantees. And these are individuals who like their task. They love the objective of the company. They work hard. And today, they're facing extremely tough choices, specifically 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 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 prepare for legal difficulties just to the offer itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This deal, to be sincere, is so extraordinary that I think a great deal of us are still trying to figure out what to do with it. I'm unsure if the offer itself might be challengeable. I believe the bigger question is the execution of these terms. I'm not knowledgeable about any authority that exists right now for OPM to buy companies to offer this number of people administrative leave. So I think it is quite perhaps setting the stage for difficulties due to the fact that I feel OPM has actually vastly exceeded their authority.MARTIN: That is Michelle Bercovici. She is a work attorney with the Alden Law Group here in Washington, D.C. Thank you so much for joining us.BERCOVICI: shkola.mitrofanovka.ru Thank you a lot for having me here.

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