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MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal staff members 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 allowed to depart and be paid till completion of September. Michelle Bercovici is an employment lawyer who represents federal workers as a big part of her practice, so I asked her for her analysis about what OPM's postponed resignation program would really mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I actually don't consider it so much a deal. I believe it's a request to resign with an unclear guarantee that, employment possibly, you could be kept in administrative leave status for as much as 8 months - however no guarantees.MARTIN: Some people have actually been using 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 offer. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would absolutely not describe it as a buyout. I believe that's a really deceptive term to utilize in this circumstance. When you think about a buyout, there's typically some sort of written contract or a concrete deal to offer an advantage in exchange for waiving certain rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If clients ask you for your recommendations, what are you informing them?BERCOVICI: First thing we inform them is workout extreme care. There are no guarantees included in this e-mail. The only thing I can tell you for certain is that if you change your mind, the agency's most likely not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and employment you are essentially quiting control over a lot.MARTIN: Is there some classification of worker who you think this might benefit? Maybe they're close to retirement. Is somebody like that might this be an appealing offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement require to be the most mindful due to the fact that leaving earlier than intended can have serious effects, possibly, on their benefits.MARTIN: Let me just play a clip from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. She told reporters that this is a great offer for people who do not wish to go back to the workplace. Let me simply play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: employment This is an idea to federal workers that they have to return in - to work. And if they do not, then they have the choice to resign, and this administration is very generously offering to pay them for employment eight months.MARTIN: You're shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: It just - in a manner, it breaks my heart that federal staff members 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 designed to get folks who work actually hard to resign. I think it's trying to pull the wool over a lot of people's eyes because there are no guarantees. And these are individuals who love their job. They enjoy the mission of the firm. They work hard. And employment today, they're facing very tough choices, especially if they're remote. I mean, it's very .MARTIN: You state it's coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, if you're someone who lives in Oregon and has been told to report to D.C. or else we're going to fire you, they might feel that they have no choice than to take this option.MARTIN: Do you anticipate legal obstacles just to the offer itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This offer, to be truthful, is so extraordinary that I think a great deal of us are still trying to figure out what to do with it. I'm unsure if the deal itself may be challengeable. I think the larger concern is the execution of these terms. I'm not knowledgeable about any authority that exists today for OPM to purchase companies to provide this variety of people administrative leave. So I think it is extremely much perhaps setting the phase for challenges since I feel OPM has significantly exceeded their authority.MARTIN: That is Michelle Bercovici. She is an employment attorney with the Alden Law Group here in Washington, D.C. Thank you a lot for signing up with us.BERCOVICI: Thank you a lot for having me here.

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