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Employment Lawyer Discusses what Trump Offer to Federal Employees to Resign Would Do
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal employees have up until 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 take leave and be paid till the end of September. Michelle Bercovici is an employment lawyer who represents federal workers as a large part of her practice, so I asked her for her analysis about what OPM’s deferred resignation program would in fact mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I really don’t consider it a lot an offer. I believe it’s a request to resign with an unclear promise that, potentially, you could be kept in administrative leave status for approximately eight months – however no guarantees.MARTIN: Some people have been utilizing the term buyout to explain what this is since there appears to be the deal of administrative leave for as much as 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 really misleading term to use in this circumstance. When you believe of a buyout, there’s normally some sort of written contract or a concrete deal to offer 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 tell them is exercise severe care.
There are no assurances included in this email. The only thing I can tell 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 basically giving up control over a lot.MARTIN: Exists some category of staff member who you believe this might benefit? Maybe they’re close to retirement. Is someone like that might this be an attractive offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement need to be the most mindful because leaving earlier than can have major repercussions, potentially, on their benefits.MARTIN: Let me just play a clip from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. She told reporters that this is an excellent deal for individuals who do not want to go back to the office. Let me just play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is an idea to federal workers that they need to return in – to work.
And if they don’t, then they have the alternative to resign, and this administration is very generously using 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 employees 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 great deal of individuals’s eyes because there are no warranties.
And these are people who enjoy their task. They enjoy the objective of the agency. They strive. And right now, they’re facing very hard choices, specifically if they’re remote. I imply, it’s extremely coercive.MARTIN: You say it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, referall.us if you’re someone who lives 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 option than to take this option.MARTIN: Do you anticipate legal obstacles just to the deal itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This deal, to be sincere, is so unmatched that I think a lot of us are still trying to find out what to do with it. I’m not exactly sure if the offer itself might be challengeable. I believe the larger concern is the execution of these terms. I’m not familiar with any authority that exists right now for OPM to purchase companies to provide this number of people administrative leave. So I believe it is extremely much possibly setting the phase for difficulties because I feel OPM has actually greatly surpassed their authority.MARTIN: That is Michelle Bercovici. She is a work legal representative with the Alden Law Group here in Washington, D.C. Thank you a lot for signing up with us.BERCOVICI: Thank you so much for having me here.
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