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, notified 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 be paid until completion of September. Michelle Bercovici is a work attorney who represents federal employees as a large part of her practice, so I asked her for her interpretation about what OPM’s deferred resignation program would actually mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I really don’t consider it a lot a deal. I think it’s a request to resign with a vague pledge that, possibly, you might be kept in administrative leave status for up to 8 months – but no guarantees.MARTIN: Some people have been using the term buyout to describe what this is since there appears to be the offer of administrative leave for approximately 8 months if you take this deal. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would never describe it as a buyout. I believe that’s a very deceptive term to utilize in this scenario. When you think of a buyout, there’s normally some sort of composed agreement or a concrete offer to provide an advantage in exchange for waiving certain 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 workout severe caution. There are no warranties included in this email. The only thing I can tell you for certain is that if you change your mind, employment the company’s most likely not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and employment you are basically quiting control over a lot.MARTIN: Exists some classification 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 careful since leaving earlier than meant can have major consequences, potentially, on their benefits.MARTIN: Let me just play a clip from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. She informed press reporters that this is an excellent offer for individuals who don’t wish to return to the office. Let me just play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is a suggestion to federal employees that they need to return in – to work. And if they don’t, then they have the choice to resign, employment and this administration is really kindly offering to pay them for 8 months.MARTIN: You’re shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: It simply – in a method, it breaks my heart that federal employees 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 tough to resign. I think it’s to pull the wool over a lot of individuals’s eyes because there are no warranties. And employment these are individuals who love their task. They enjoy the mission of the agency. They strive. And employment right now, they’re facing extremely difficult options, specifically if they’re remote. I imply, it’s extremely coercive.MARTIN: You state it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, if you’re someone who resides in Oregon and has been told to report to D.C. or 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 difficulties simply to the deal itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This offer, to be sincere, is so extraordinary that I think a lot of us are still attempting to find out what to do with it. I’m not exactly sure if the offer itself may be challengeable. I think the larger question is the execution of these terms. I’m not conscious of any authority that exists right now for OPM to purchase firms to give this variety of individuals administrative leave. So I think it is really much perhaps setting the stage for difficulties due to the fact that I feel OPM has significantly 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 a lot for joining us.BERCOVICI: Thank you so much for having me here.

Copyright © 2025 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website regards to usage and authorizations pages at www.npr.org for additional information.

NPR records are created on a rush deadline by an NPR professional. This text may not be in its last kind and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and schedule might vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.