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Employment Lawyer Discusses what Trump Offer to Federal Employees to Resign Would Do
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal workers have 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 enabled to take leave and be paid up until completion of September.
Michelle Bercovici is a work attorney who represents federal workers as a large part of her practice, so I asked her for her interpretation about what OPM’s deferred resignation program would really mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I really do not consider it so much a deal. I believe it’s a demand to resign with an unclear guarantee that, possibly, you could be kept in administrative leave status for up to eight months – however no guarantees.MARTIN: Some people have been utilizing the term buyout to describe what this is because there seems 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 an extremely misleading term to use in this scenario. When you consider a buyout, there’s typically some sort of written contract or a concrete deal to supply an advantage in exchange for waiving particular 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 warranties contained in this e-mail. The only thing I can inform you for particular is that if you change your mind, the agency’s probably not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are basically offering up control over a lot.MARTIN: Exists some category of staff member 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 require 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 told reporters that this is a bargain for people who don’t wish to return to the workplace. Let me just play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is a tip to federal employees that they need to return in – to work. And if they do not, then they have the alternative to resign, and this administration is very kindly offering 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 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 hard to resign. I think it’s trying to pull the wool over a great deal of individuals’s eyes due to the fact that there are no assurances. And these are people who like their task. They love the objective of the agency. They work hard. And today, they’re facing really difficult choices, especially if they’re remote. I suggest, it’s very coercive.MARTIN: You say it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, if you’re someone who lives in Oregon and somalibidders.com has been told 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 obstacles simply to the deal itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This deal, to be honest, is so unprecedented that I think a great deal of us are still attempting to find out what to do with it. I’m uncertain if the offer itself might be challengeable. I believe the larger question is the execution of these terms. I’m not familiar with any that exists today for OPM to order companies to provide this number of individuals administrative leave. So I think it is quite potentially setting the phase for challenges because I feel OPM has actually significantly exceeded their authority.MARTIN: That is Michelle Bercovici. She is an employment 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 referall.us having me here.
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