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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 choose 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 permitted to depart and job be paid until the end 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 analysis about what OPM’s postponed resignation program would actually mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I actually don’t consider it so much a deal. I believe it’s a request to resign with a vague guarantee that, potentially, you might be kept in administrative leave status for up to 8 months – however no guarantees.MARTIN: Some individuals have actually been using the term buyout to explain what this is since there seems to be the deal of administrative leave for approximately eight months if you take this deal. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would definitely not explain it as a buyout. I think that’s a really deceptive term to use in this circumstance. When you think about a buyout, job there’s usually some sort of composed arrangement or a concrete deal to provide an advantage in exchange for waiving certain rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If clients ask you for your advice, what are you informing them?BERCOVICI: First thing we inform them is exercise extreme caution. There are no guarantees included in this e-mail. The only thing I can tell you for certain is that if you change your mind, the firm’s most likely not going to let you withdraw that resignation, job and you are essentially quiting 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 attractive offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement require to be the most cautious because leaving earlier than planned can have serious effects, possibly, on their benefits.MARTIN: Let me a clip from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. She informed reporters that this is an excellent deal for individuals who do not wish to go back to the office. 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 don’t, then they have the option to resign, and this administration is very generously providing to pay them for 8 months.MARTIN: You’re shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: job It simply – in a manner, 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 really tough to resign. I think it’s attempting to pull the wool over a lot of individuals’s eyes because there are no guarantees. And these are people who like their job. They love the mission of the agency. They work hard. And right now, they’re facing really difficult options, particularly if they’re remote. I mean, it’s really coercive.MARTIN: You state it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, if you’re somebody 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 choice than to take this option.MARTIN: Do you prepare for legal difficulties just to the deal itself?
And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: job This offer, to be honest, is so extraordinary that I believe a great deal of us are still trying to determine what to do with it. I’m unsure 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 today for OPM to order firms to provide this variety of individuals administrative leave.
So I believe it is very much possibly setting the stage for obstacles due to the fact that I feel OPM has actually vastly surpassed their authority.MARTIN: That is Michelle Bercovici. She is an employment legal representative 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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