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

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal employees have until February 6 to choose whether to voluntarily leave their jobs. 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 allowed to depart and be paid till the end of September. Michelle Bercovici is a work attorney who represents federal employees as a big part of her practice, so I asked her for employment her interpretation about what OPM’s delayed resignation program would in fact mean. BERCOVICI: I really don’t consider it so much a deal. I think it’s a request to resign with an unclear pledge that, possibly, you might be kept in administrative leave status for as much as 8 months – but no guarantees.MARTIN: Some individuals have been using the term buyout to explain what this is due to the fact that there seems to be the offer of administrative leave for up to 8 months if you take this deal. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would never explain it as a buyout. I think that’s a really deceptive term to use in this scenario. When you consider a buyout, there’s usually some sort of written agreement or a concrete offer to offer an advantage in exchange for waiving specific rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If customers ask you for your advice, what are you informing them?BERCOVICI: First thing we inform them is exercise severe care. There are no warranties consisted of in this email. The only thing I can inform you for certain is that if you change your mind, the firm’s probably not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are basically quiting control over a lot.MARTIN: Exists some classification of staff member 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 require to be the most careful since leaving earlier than intended can have severe repercussions, employment possibly, on their benefits.MARTIN: Let me simply play a clip from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. She informed press reporters that this is a bargain for employment individuals who don’t desire to go back to the workplace. Let me simply play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is a recommendation to federal workers that they need to return in – to work. And if they don’t, then they have the option to resign, and employment this administration is very kindly providing 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 staff members are being jerked around like this. It sends out 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 attempting to pull the wool over a great deal of people’s eyes since there are no warranties. And these are individuals who like their task. They like the objective of the firm. They work hard. And today, they’re facing extremely tough options, employment especially if they’re remote. I suggest, it’s really coercive.MARTIN: You say it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, if you’re somebody who resides 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 anticipate legal challenges just to the deal itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This offer, employment to be sincere, is so extraordinary that I believe a great deal of us are still trying to figure out what to do with it. I’m not sure if the offer itself may be challengeable. I believe the bigger concern is the execution of these terms. I’m not familiar with any authority that exists today for OPM to purchase firms to give this number of individuals administrative leave. So I believe it is quite possibly setting the phase for difficulties since I feel OPM has actually significantly surpassed their authority.MARTIN: That is Michelle Bercovici. She is an employment attorney with the Alden Law Group here in Washington, employment D.C. Thank you a lot for signing up with us.BERCOVICI: Thank you so much for having me here.

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