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

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal workers have until February 6 to choose whether to voluntarily 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 enabled to depart and be paid until the end of September. Michelle Bercovici is an employment attorney who represents federal staff members as a large part of her practice, so I asked her for her analysis about what OPM’s delayed resignation program would in fact mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I actually don’t consider it a lot a deal. I think it’s a demand to resign with an unclear promise that, potentially, you might be kept in administrative leave status for up to eight months – but no guarantees.MARTIN: Some people have actually been utilizing the term buyout to explain what this is because there seems to be the deal of administrative leave for up to eight months if you take this deal. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would never describe it as a buyout. I think that’s a very deceptive term to utilize in this circumstance. When you think of a buyout, there’s typically some sort of written arrangement or a concrete offer to provide an advantage in exchange for waiving certain rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If clients ask you for your recommendations, what are you telling them?BERCOVICI: First thing we inform them is exercise severe caution. There are no assurances contained in this e-mail. The only thing I can inform you for particular is that if you alter your mind, the company’s most likely not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are essentially offering up control over a lot.MARTIN: Exists some classification of employee who you think 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 careful since leaving earlier than meant can have major employment repercussions, possibly, 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 bargain for people who don’t wish to go back to the workplace. Let me just play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is an idea to federal workers that they have to return in – to work. And if they do not, then they have the choice to resign, employment and employment this administration is very generously offering to pay them for 8 months.MARTIN: You’re shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: It simply – in such a way, it breaks my heart that federal workers are being jerked around like this. It sends a signal to me that this return-to-office order is in bad faith, that it’s designed to get folks who work truly tough 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 like their job. They like the objective of the agency. They work hard. And right now, they’re facing really difficult choices, specifically if they’re remote. I mean, it’s really coercive.MARTIN: You state it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, if you’re someone who resides 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 anticipate legal obstacles simply to the offer itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This offer, to be honest, is so unmatched that I believe a lot of us are still attempting to find out what to do with it. I’m not exactly sure if the deal itself may be challengeable. I think the larger concern is the execution of these terms. I’m not mindful of any authority that exists today for OPM to order companies to provide this variety of individuals administrative leave. So I think it is quite possibly setting the phase for challenges since I feel OPM has vastly surpassed their authority.MARTIN: That is Michelle Bercovici. She is an employment legal representative with the Alden Law Group here in Washington, D.C. Thank you a lot for us.BERCOVICI: Thank you so much for having me here.

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