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Employment Lawyer Discusses what Trump Offer to Federal Employees to Resign Would Do
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal workers have up until February 6 to decide whether to voluntarily leave their jobs.
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, OPM, informed 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 take leave and be paid till the end of September.
Michelle Bercovici is an employment lawyer who represents federal staff members as a big 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 actually don’t consider it a lot an offer. I believe it’s a request to resign with a vague guarantee that, adremcareers.com potentially, you could be kept in administrative leave status for up to 8 months — however no guarantees.MARTIN: Some people have been using the term buyout to explain what this is since there appears to be the offer of administrative leave for somalibidders.com up to eight months if you take this deal. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would definitely not explain it as a buyout. I believe that’s a very deceptive term to use in this circumstance. When you think about a buyout, there’s normally 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 customers ask you for your recommendations, what are you telling them?BERCOVICI: First thing we inform them is exercise severe caution. There are no assurances included in this e-mail. The only thing I can tell you for specific is that if you change your mind, the firm’s probably not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are essentially providing up control over a lot.MARTIN: Is there some classification of worker who you believe this might benefit? Maybe they’re close to retirement. Is someone like that may this be an appealing offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement need to be the most cautious due to the fact that leaving earlier than meant can have major repercussions, 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 people who don’t desire to return to the office. Let me simply play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is a suggestion to federal employees that they have to return in — to work. And if they don’t, then they have the option to resign, and this administration is very generously using to pay them for eight months.MARTIN: You’re shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: It simply — in such a way, it breaks my heart that federal employees 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 to get folks who work truly hard to resign. I believe it’s attempting to pull the wool over a great deal of people’s eyes due to the fact that there are no warranties. And these are people who like their task. They love the objective of the company. They work hard.
And today, they’re dealing with really tough options, specifically if they’re remote. I mean, it’s really coercive.MARTIN: You say it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, if you’re someone who lives 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 choice than to take this option.MARTIN: Do you prepare for legal challenges simply to the offer itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This deal, referall.us to be sincere, is so extraordinary that I think a great deal of us are still attempting to figure out what to do with it. I’m not sure if the deal itself might be challengeable. I think the larger question is the execution of these terms. I’m not familiar with any authority that exists right now for OPM to order companies to offer this number of individuals administrative leave. So I think it is very much potentially setting the phase for obstacles due to the fact that I feel OPM has actually significantly surpassed their authority.MARTIN: That is Michelle Bercovici. She is a work attorney with the Alden Law Group here in Washington, D.C. Thank you so much for signing up with us.BERCOVICI: Thank you a lot for having me here.
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