MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal staff members have till February 6 to choose 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 permitted to take leave and be paid till the end of September. Michelle Bercovici is an employment lawyer 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 really mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I in fact don't consider it so much an offer. I believe it's a demand to resign with a vague promise that, forum.batman.gainedge.org possibly, you could be kept in administrative leave status for as much as 8 months - but no guarantees.MARTIN: Some people have been utilizing the term buyout to describe what this is due to the fact that there appears to be the offer of administrative leave for up to eight months if you take this offer. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would absolutely not explain it as a buyout. I think that's an extremely deceptive term to utilize in this situation. When you think about a buyout, there's generally some sort of written arrangement or a concrete offer to supply an advantage in exchange for waiving specific 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 workout extreme caution. There are no guarantees contained in this e-mail. The only thing I can tell you for specific is that if you alter 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: Is there some classification of worker 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 require to be the most careful since leaving earlier than meant can have major consequences, 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 a bargain for people who do not desire to return to the workplace. Let me just play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is a suggestion 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 generously providing to pay them for 8 months.MARTIN: You're shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: It simply - 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 created to get folks who work truly tough to resign. I think it's attempting to pull the wool over a lot of people's eyes due to the fact that there are no assurances. And these are people who like their task. They like the objective of the company. They strive. And today, they're facing extremely tough choices, specifically if they're remote. I suggest, it's very coercive.MARTIN: You say it's coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, if you're someone who resides 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 anticipate legal challenges just to the offer itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This offer, to be honest, is so unprecedented that I believe a great deal of us are still trying to figure out what to do with it. I'm uncertain if the offer itself might be challengeable. I believe the larger question is the execution of these terms. I'm not knowledgeable about any authority that exists right now for OPM to purchase agencies to give this number of people administrative leave. So I think it is quite possibly setting the phase for obstacles 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 a lot for us.BERCOVICI: Thank you a lot for having me here.

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