MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal staff members have till February 6 to decide 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 enabled to take leave and be paid till the end of September. Michelle Bercovici is an employment lawyer who represents federal staff members as a large part of her practice, so I asked her for her analysis about what OPM's postponed resignation program would really mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I in fact do not consider it so much a deal. I think it's a demand to resign with an unclear guarantee that, possibly, you could be kept in administrative leave status for up to 8 months - but no guarantees.MARTIN: Some people have been using the term buyout to explain what this is since there seems to be the deal 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 think that's a very deceptive term to utilize in this circumstance. When you consider a buyout, there's normally some sort of written arrangement or a concrete deal to supply a benefit in exchange for waiving particular rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: annunciogratis.net If customers ask you for your recommendations, yogicentral.science what are you telling them?BERCOVICI: First thing we inform them is exercise extreme caution. There are no warranties contained in this e-mail. The only thing I can tell you for certain is that if you alter your mind, the company's most likely not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are essentially quiting control over a lot.MARTIN: Exists some classification of employee who you think 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 intended can have severe effects, possibly, 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 people who do not want to return to the office. Let me simply play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is an idea to federal employees that they have to return in - to work. And if they don't, tuttocamere.it then they have the choice to resign, and this administration is really generously providing to pay them for 8 months.MARTIN: You're shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: It simply - in 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 remains in bad faith, that it's developed to get folks who work really hard to resign. I think it's trying to pull the wool over a lot of individuals's eyes because there are no warranties. And these are people who love their task. They love the objective of the company. They work hard. And today, they're dealing with extremely hard choices, particularly if they're remote. I suggest, 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. otherwise we're going to fire you, they might feel that they have no choice than to take this option.MARTIN: dokuwiki.stream Do you anticipate legal difficulties simply to the deal itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This offer, to be honest, is so extraordinary that I believe a great deal of us are still attempting to find out what to do with it. I'm uncertain if the deal itself might be challengeable. I believe the larger concern is the execution of these terms. I'm not knowledgeable about any authority that exists today for OPM to order agencies to offer this variety of individuals administrative leave. So I believe it is quite perhaps setting the stage for challenges due to the fact that I feel OPM has actually greatly exceeded their authority.MARTIN: That is Michelle Bercovici. She is an employment lawyer with the Alden Law Group here in Washington, D.C. Thank you a lot for botdb.win signing up with us.BERCOVICI: Thank you so much for having me here.

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