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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 decide whether to voluntarily leave their tasks. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, job 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 allowed to take leave and be paid till the end of September. Michelle Bercovici is a work legal representative who represents federal workers as a big part of her practice, so I asked her for job her interpretation about what OPM’s postponed resignation program would actually mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I really do not consider it a lot a deal. I believe it’s a request to resign with a vague guarantee that, possibly, you might be kept in administrative leave status for as much as eight months – however no guarantees.MARTIN: Some individuals have actually been utilizing the term buyout to explain what this is since there appears to be the deal of administrative leave for up to 8 months if you take this deal. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would definitely not describe it as a buyout. I think that’s a very misleading term to use in this situation. When you consider a buyout, there’s normally some sort of written agreement or a concrete deal to provide 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 tell them is exercise severe care. There are no guarantees consisted of in this email. The only thing I can tell you for certain is that if you alter your mind, the agency’s probably not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are essentially giving up control over a lot.MARTIN: Exists some category 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 require to be the most cautious since leaving earlier than meant can have severe 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 a great deal for people who don’t wish to return to the office. Let me just 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 do not, job then they have the choice to resign, and this administration is extremely kindly providing to pay them for 8 months.MARTIN: You’re shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: It simply – in such a way, it breaks my heart that federal staff members are being jerked around like this. It sends a signal to me that this return-to-office order remains in bad faith, that it’s developed to get folks who work really tough to resign. I believe it’s trying to pull the wool over a lot of individuals’s eyes because there are no assurances. And these are individuals who like their job. They enjoy the objective of the firm. They strive. And right now, they’re facing very difficult options, particularly if they’re remote. I mean, it’s very coercive.MARTIN: You state it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, if you’re somebody who lives in Oregon and has been 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 anticipate legal challenges just to the deal itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This deal, to be sincere, is so unprecedented that I think a great deal of us are still attempting to figure out what to do with it. I’m not exactly sure if the offer itself may be challengeable. I believe the larger concern is the execution of these terms. I’m not conscious of any authority that exists right now for OPM to purchase agencies to provide this number of individuals administrative leave. So I believe it is very much perhaps setting the stage for difficulties since I feel OPM has vastly exceeded their authority.MARTIN: That is Michelle Bercovici. She is an employment legal representative with the Alden Law Group here in Washington, job D.C. Thank you a lot for signing up with us.BERCOVICI: Thank you so much for having me here.

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