About Us

Employment Lawyer Discusses what Trump Offer to Federal Employees to Resign Would Do

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal staff members have up until February 6 to decide whether to willingly 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 be paid until completion of September. Michelle Bercovici is an employment legal representative who represents federal employees as a big part of her practice, so I asked her for her interpretation about what OPM’s deferred resignation program would actually mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I in fact don’t consider it a lot an offer. I think it’s a request to resign with a vague pledge that, possibly, you might be kept in administrative leave status for as much as 8 months – but no guarantees.MARTIN: Some individuals have been utilizing the term buyout to describe what this is due to the fact that there seems 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 explain it as a buyout. I believe that’s a really deceptive term to utilize in this situation. When you consider a buyout, there’s usually some sort of composed contract or a concrete deal to supply a benefit in exchange for employment 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 tell them is exercise extreme caution. There are no warranties included in this e-mail. The only thing I can inform you for specific is that if you change your mind, the company’s probably not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are basically quiting control over a lot.MARTIN: Is there some category of employee 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 need to be the most careful since leaving earlier than meant can have severe repercussions, employment potentially, on their benefits.MARTIN: Let me simply play a clip from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. She told press reporters that this is a bargain for individuals who don’t wish to go back to the workplace. Let me simply play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is a tip 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 generously providing to pay them for eight months.MARTIN: employment You’re shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: It simply – in such a way, 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 hard to resign. I believe it’s trying to pull the wool over a great deal of individuals’s eyes since there are no guarantees. And these are individuals who love their task. They enjoy the mission of the agency. They work hard. And today, they’re dealing with very hard choices, particularly if they’re remote. I mean, it’s extremely coercive.MARTIN: You state it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, if you’re someone who 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 challenges simply to the offer itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This deal, to be sincere, is so unmatched that I think a great deal of us are still attempting to figure out what to do with it. I’m not exactly sure if the offer itself might be challengeable. I think the bigger concern is the execution of these terms. I’m not mindful of any authority that exists today for OPM to order agencies to provide this number of individuals administrative leave. So I think it is very much potentially setting the stage for difficulties since I feel OPM has actually 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 a lot for having me here.

Copyright © 2025 NPR. All rights booked. Visit our website terms of use and authorizations pages at www.npr.org for additional info.

NPR records are developed on a rush deadline by an NPR professional. This text may not remain in its last type and may be upgraded or modified in the future. Accuracy and accessibility might differ. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.