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Employment Lawyer Discusses what Trump Offer to Federal Employees to Resign Would Do
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal staff members have till February 6 to choose whether to willingly leave their tasks. 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 permitted to depart and employment 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 actually don’t consider it so much an offer. I think it’s a demand to resign with a vague pledge that, potentially, you might be kept in administrative leave status for up to 8 months – however no guarantees.MARTIN: Some individuals have actually been utilizing the term buyout to describe what this is due to the fact that there appears to be the deal 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 think that’s a really deceptive term to utilize in this situation. When you think about a buyout, there’s some sort of composed contract or a concrete offer to provide a benefit in exchange for waiving certain rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If clients ask you for your suggestions, what are you informing them?BERCOVICI: First thing we tell them is exercise severe care. There are no assurances consisted of in this email. The only thing I can tell you for particular is that if you change your mind, the company’s probably not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are essentially giving up control over a lot.MARTIN: Is there some classification of staff member who you think this might benefit? Maybe they’re close to retirement. Is somebody like that may this be an attractive offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement need to be the most mindful due to the fact that leaving earlier than meant 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 reporters that this is a bargain for people who do not desire to go back to the office. 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 very generously offering to pay them for employment eight months.MARTIN: You’re shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: It just – in a method, employment 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 actually hard to resign.
I believe it’s trying to pull the wool over a great deal of people’s eyes because there are no guarantees. And these are individuals who like their task. They like the objective of the agency. They work hard. And right now, they’re dealing with really difficult choices, especially if they’re remote.
I indicate, it’s very coercive.MARTIN: You state it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, employment if you’re someone 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 option than to take this option.MARTIN: Do you expect legal difficulties simply to the offer itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This offer, to be truthful, is so extraordinary that I think a great deal of us are still attempting 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 buy companies to offer this number of people administrative leave. So I think it is really much possibly setting the phase for challenges because I feel OPM has actually vastly exceeded their authority.MARTIN: That is Michelle Bercovici. She is an employment 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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