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

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal employees have until February 6 to decide whether to willingly 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 allowed to depart and be paid up until completion of September. Michelle Bercovici is a work legal representative who represents federal employees as a big part of her practice, so I asked her for her interpretation about what OPM’s deferred resignation program would really mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I really don’t consider it so much a deal. I believe it’s a demand to resign with a vague guarantee that, potentially, you could be kept in status for up to eight months – however no guarantees.MARTIN: Some individuals have actually been using the term buyout to describe what this is since there seems to be the offer of administrative leave for approximately eight months if you take this offer. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would absolutely not explain it as a buyout. I believe that’s a very misleading term to utilize in this scenario. When you think about a buyout, there’s generally some sort of composed contract or a concrete offer to provide an advantage in exchange for waiving specific rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If customers ask you for your guidance, what are you informing them?BERCOVICI: First thing we tell them is workout extreme care. There are no warranties contained in this e-mail. The only thing I can tell you for specific is that if you alter your mind, the firm’s probably not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are essentially quiting control over a lot.MARTIN: Is there some category of worker who you think 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 planned can have major effects, possibly, on their benefits.MARTIN: Let me just play a clip from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. She informed press reporters that this is a bargain for individuals who do not desire to go back to the workplace. Let me just play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is a recommendation to federal employees that they have to return in – to work. And if they do not, then they have the choice to resign, and this administration is very kindly using 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 designed to get folks who work really hard to resign. I believe it’s trying to pull the wool over a great deal of individuals’s eyes because there are no warranties. And these are individuals who like their task. They enjoy the objective of the agency. They work hard. And right now, they’re facing extremely difficult options, particularly if they’re remote. I mean, it’s really coercive.MARTIN: You say it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, if you’re somebody who resides in Oregon and has been told to report to D.C. otherwise we’re going to fire you, they might feel that they have no choice than to take this option.MARTIN: Do you prepare for legal obstacles simply to the offer itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This offer, to be sincere, is so extraordinary 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 question is the execution of these terms. I’m not familiar with any authority that exists today for OPM to buy agencies to give this number of individuals administrative leave. So I think it is quite potentially setting the stage for obstacles because I feel OPM has greatly 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 joining us.BERCOVICI: Thank you a lot for having me here.

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