MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal staff members have up until February 6 to decide whether to voluntarily leave their jobs. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, OPM, job 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 to take leave and 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, job so I asked her for her analysis about what OPM’s delayed 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 a vague guarantee that, possibly, you could be kept in administrative leave status for as much as eight months - however no guarantees.MARTIN: Some people have been utilizing the term buyout to explain what this is because there seems to be the offer of administrative leave for up to eight months if you take this offer. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would never describe it as a buyout. I believe that’s an extremely misleading term to use in this scenario. When you consider a buyout, there’s usually some sort of composed contract or a concrete offer to provide an advantage in exchange for waiving particular rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If customers ask you for your recommendations, what are you informing them?BERCOVICI: First thing we tell them is workout extreme caution. There are no warranties included 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: Is there some classification of employee who you think this might benefit? Maybe they’re close to retirement. Is somebody like that may this be an appealing offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement need to be the most cautious because leaving earlier than meant can have major 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 individuals who don’t desire to go back to the office. Let me simply 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 choice to resign, and this administration is very generously offering to pay them for eight months.MARTIN: You’re shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: It just - in a manner, it breaks my heart that federal workers are being jerked around like this. It sends out a signal to me that this return-to-office order is in bad faith, that it’s designed to get folks who work really difficult to resign. I believe it’s trying to pull the wool over a lot of individuals’s eyes due to the fact that there are no warranties. And these are individuals who love their job. They like the mission of the agency. They work hard. And today, they’re dealing with extremely difficult options, especially if they’re remote. I suggest, it’s really coercive.MARTIN: You state it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: job Essentially, if you’re somebody who lives in Oregon and has been informed to report to D.C. or job else 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 offer itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This deal, to be honest, is so unprecedented that I think a lot of us are still trying to determine 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 knowledgeable about any authority that exists right now for OPM to buy agencies to offer this variety of people administrative leave. So I think it is extremely much perhaps setting the stage for difficulties since I feel OPM has vastly surpassed 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 joining us.BERCOVICI: Thank you so much for having me here.

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