MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal employees have up until February 6 to decide whether to voluntarily 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 allowed to depart and be paid up until completion of September. Michelle Bercovici is a work lawyer who represents federal employees as a large part of her practice, so I asked her for her analysis about what OPM's postponed resignation program would actually mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I actually don't consider it so much an offer. I believe it's a request to resign with a vague promise that, possibly, you might be kept in administrative leave status for up to 8 months - but no guarantees.MARTIN: Some individuals have been using the term buyout to explain what this is since there appears to be the offer of administrative leave for as much as eight months if you take this offer. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would absolutely not describe it as a buyout. I think that's a very misleading term to use in this situation. When you consider a buyout, there's typically some sort of composed agreement or a concrete offer to offer a benefit in exchange for waiving certain rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If clients ask you for your guidance, what are you informing them?BERCOVICI: First thing we inform them is exercise severe caution. There are no warranties consisted of in this email. The only thing I can inform you for particular is that if you change your mind, the firm's most likely not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are basically quiting control over a lot.MARTIN: Exists some category of worker who you think this might benefit? Maybe they're close to retirement. Is someone like that may this be an appealing offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement need to be the most careful since leaving earlier than intended can have major repercussions, possibly, on their benefits.MARTIN: Let me simply play a clip from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. She informed reporters that this is an excellent deal for individuals who don't wish to go back to the office. Let me just play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: securityholes.science This is a suggestion to that they need to return in - to work. And if they do not, then they have the choice to resign, and this administration is very kindly 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 a signal to me that this return-to-office order remains in bad faith, pattern-wiki.win that it's designed to get folks who work truly tough to resign. I believe it's trying 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 company. They work hard. And right now, they're dealing with very hard choices, especially if they're remote. I mean, 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 expect legal obstacles simply to the deal itself? And if so, forum.altaycoins.com on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This deal, to be sincere, is so extraordinary that I believe a great deal of us are still attempting to figure out what to do with it. I'm unsure if the deal itself may be challengeable. I believe the bigger question is the execution of these terms. I'm not knowledgeable about any authority that exists right now for OPM to order companies to give this variety of people administrative leave. So I think it is quite potentially setting the phase for challenges since I feel OPM has significantly exceeded their authority.MARTIN: That is Michelle Bercovici. She is a work lawyer 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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