MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal employees have up until February 6 to choose whether to voluntarily leave their jobs. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, OPM, notified 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 depart and be paid till completion of September. Michelle Bercovici is an employment attorney who represents federal employees as a large part of her practice, so I asked her for her interpretation about what OPM’s delayed resignation program would in fact mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I actually do not consider it so much a deal. I believe it’s a request to resign with a vague guarantee that, potentially, you could be kept in administrative leave status for up to eight months - however no guarantees.MARTIN: Some individuals have actually been utilizing the term buyout to describe what this is since there appears to be the deal of administrative leave for 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 think that’s a very deceptive term to utilize in this circumstance. When you consider a buyout, there’s typically some sort of written contract or a concrete deal to supply a benefit in exchange for waiving particular rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If clients ask you for your recommendations, what are you informing them?BERCOVICI: First thing we inform them is exercise severe caution. There are no assurances included in this email. The only thing I can inform you for specific is that if you change your mind, the agency’s probably not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are essentially quiting over a lot.MARTIN: Exists some category of employee who you believe this might benefit? Maybe they’re close to retirement. Is somebody like that might this be an attractive offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement need to be the most mindful due to the fact that leaving earlier than intended 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 press reporters that this is a great offer for individuals who don’t want to return to the workplace. Let me simply play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is an idea to federal workers that they have to return in - to work. And if they don’t, then they have the alternative to resign, and this administration is very kindly using to pay them for 8 months.MARTIN: You’re shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: It just - in a manner, it breaks my heart that federal staff members are being jerked around like this. It sends out a signal to me that this return-to-office order is in bad faith, employment that it’s developed to get folks who work actually 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 love their job. They enjoy the mission of the agency. They work hard. And today, they’re facing very hard options, specifically if they’re remote. I suggest, it’s extremely coercive.MARTIN: You state 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 option than to take this option.MARTIN: Do you prepare for legal challenges simply to the deal itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This offer, to be truthful, is so extraordinary that I think a great deal of us are still attempting to find out what to do with it. I’m unsure if the deal itself may be challengeable. I think the bigger question is the execution of these terms. I’m not familiar with any authority that exists right now for OPM to purchase agencies to give this variety of individuals administrative leave. So I think it is extremely much possibly setting the stage for challenges since I feel OPM has greatly 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 so much for signing up with us.BERCOVICI: Thank you so much for having me here.

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