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Employment Lawyer Discusses what Trump Offer to Federal Employees to Resign Would Do
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal employees have till February 6 to choose whether to voluntarily leave their jobs. The U.S.
Office of Personnel Management, OPM, informed 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 till completion of September.
Michelle Bercovici is an employment lawyer who represents federal employees as a large part of her practice, so I asked her for her interpretation about what OPM’s delayed resignation program would actually mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I actually do not consider it so much a deal. I think it’s a request to resign with a vague promise that, potentially, you could be kept in administrative leave status for as much as 8 months – however no guarantees.MARTIN: Some people have been utilizing the term buyout to describe what this is due to the fact that there appears to be the offer of administrative leave for up to 8 months if you take this offer.
So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would never explain it as a buyout. I think that’s a very deceptive term to utilize in this situation. When you think about a buyout, there’s typically some sort of composed agreement or a concrete deal to provide an advantage in exchange for waiving certain rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If clients ask you for your guidance, what are you telling them?BERCOVICI: First thing we inform them is workout extreme caution. There are no warranties consisted of in this email. The only thing I can inform you for certain is that if you alter your mind, the agency’s probably not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are essentially providing up control over a lot.MARTIN: Exists some category of employee 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 require to be the most cautious due to the fact that leaving earlier than meant can have major consequences, possibly, on their .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 do not desire to go back to the workplace. 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 don’t, then they have the option to resign, and this administration is really generously offering to pay them for 8 months.MARTIN: You’re shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: It just – in a way, it breaks my heart that federal staff members 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 created to get folks who work truly hard to resign. I think it’s attempting to pull the wool over a lot of individuals’s eyes since there are no guarantees. And these are individuals who enjoy their task. They enjoy the objective of the agency. They strive. And today, they’re facing extremely difficult options, especially if they’re remote. I indicate, it’s really coercive.MARTIN: You say it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: referall.us Essentially, if you’re someone who resides in Oregon and has been informed to report to D.C. or else we’re going to fire you, they might feel that they have no choice than to take this option.MARTIN: Do you anticipate legal obstacles simply to the deal itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This offer, to be sincere, is so unprecedented that I think a lot 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 larger question is the execution of these terms. I’m not knowledgeable about any authority that exists right now for OPM to purchase companies to provide this number of people administrative leave. So I believe it is quite potentially setting the phase for difficulties since I feel OPM has actually greatly 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 so much for joining us.BERCOVICI: Thank you a lot for having me here.
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