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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 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 permitted to depart and be paid up until completion of September. Michelle Bercovici is an employment lawyer who represents federal workers 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 really don’t consider it a lot an offer. I think it’s a request to resign with a vague pledge that, job potentially, you might be kept in administrative leave status for up to 8 months – however no guarantees.MARTIN: Some individuals have been utilizing the term buyout to describe what this is because there seems to be the offer of administrative leave for job approximately 8 months if you take this deal. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would absolutely not explain it as a buyout. I think that’s an extremely deceptive term to use in this circumstance. When you think of a buyout, there’s generally some sort of composed contract or a concrete deal to supply a benefit in exchange for waiving certain rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If customers ask you for your guidance, what are you informing them?BERCOVICI: First thing we inform them is exercise extreme caution.
There are no assurances consisted of in this email. The only thing I can inform you for specific is that if you change your mind, the company’s probably not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are basically offering up control over a lot.MARTIN: Is there some classification of worker who you think this might benefit? Maybe they’re close to retirement. Is somebody like that might this be an appealing offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement need to be the most cautious since leaving earlier than planned can have major consequences, potentially, 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 job people who don’t wish to go back to the workplace. Let me just play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is a suggestion to federal workers 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 kindly providing to pay them for eight months.MARTIN: You’re shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: It simply – in a manner, job it breaks my heart that federal workers 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 developed to get folks who work actually tough to resign. I think it’s trying to pull the wool over a lot of individuals’s eyes because there are no guarantees. And these are individuals who love their job. They enjoy the objective of the company. They work hard. And job today, they’re dealing with very hard choices, especially if they’re remote. I mean, it’s extremely coercive.MARTIN: You say it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, if you’re somebody 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 option than to take this option.MARTIN: Do you anticipate legal challenges simply to the deal itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This offer, to be sincere, job is so extraordinary that I think a great deal of us are still trying to figure out what to do with it. I’m not exactly sure if the offer itself might be challengeable. I believe the bigger question is the execution of these terms. I’m not familiar with any authority that exists right now for OPM to buy agencies to give this variety of individuals administrative leave. So I believe it is extremely much possibly setting the phase for obstacles because I feel OPM has actually vastly exceeded 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 signing up with us.BERCOVICI: Thank you so much for having me here.
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