MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal employees have till February 6 to decide whether to willingly leave their tasks. 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 depart and be paid until completion of September. Michelle Bercovici is a work attorney who represents federal workers as a big part of her practice, so I asked her for her analysis about what OPM's delayed resignation program would in fact mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I really don't consider it so much a deal. I believe it's a request to resign with a vague pledge that, possibly, you might be kept in administrative leave status for approximately 8 months - however no guarantees.MARTIN: Some people have actually been using the term buyout to explain what this is due to the fact that there seems to be the deal of administrative leave for as much as eight months if you take this deal. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would never describe it as a buyout. I believe that's an extremely deceptive term to use in this scenario. When you think about a buyout, there's generally some sort of written arrangement or a concrete deal to offer a benefit in exchange for waiving specific rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If customers ask you for your guidance, what are you telling them?BERCOVICI: First thing we tell them is workout extreme caution. There are no guarantees included in this e-mail. The only thing I can inform you for job certain is that if you alter your mind, the company's probably not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are essentially offering up control over a lot.MARTIN: Is there some category of staff member who you think this might benefit? Maybe they're close to retirement. Is someone like that might this be an attractive offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement require to be the most careful due to the fact that leaving earlier than meant can have serious effects, potentially, on their benefits.MARTIN: Let me simply play a clip from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. She told reporters that this is an excellent offer for individuals who don't desire to go back to the workplace. Let me just play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is a recommendation to federal workers that they need to return in - to work. And if they don't, then they have the option to resign, and this administration is really kindly using to pay them for 8 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, that it's developed to get folks who work really hard to resign. I believe it's attempting to pull the wool over a lot of people's eyes since there are no guarantees. And these are people who love their job. They enjoy the mission of the agency. They work hard. And right now, they're facing really hard choices, especially if they're remote. I suggest, it's really coercive.MARTIN: You state it's coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, if you're somebody who lives 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 option than to take this option.MARTIN: Do you prepare for legal obstacles just to the deal itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This offer, to be sincere, is so unmatched that I think a great deal of us are still attempting to determine what to do with it. I'm unsure if the deal itself might be challengeable. I think the bigger question is the execution of these terms. I'm not conscious of any authority that exists right now for OPM to buy companies to provide this number of people administrative leave. So I think it is really much possibly setting the stage for obstacles due to the fact that I has vastly 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 so much for joining us.BERCOVICI: Thank you a lot for having me here.

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