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MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal employees have until February 6 to choose whether to willingly 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 depart and be paid until completion of September. Michelle Bercovici is an employment legal representative who represents federal workers as a large part of her practice, so I asked her for her interpretation about what OPM's postponed resignation program would really mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I in fact do not consider it a lot a deal. I think it's a request to resign with an unclear pledge that, possibly, you might be kept in administrative leave status for approximately eight months - but no guarantees.MARTIN: Some people have actually been utilizing the term buyout to describe what this is due to the fact that there seems 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 never describe it as a buyout. I think that's a very misleading term to utilize in this situation. When you think about a buyout, there's usually some sort of composed contract or a concrete offer to supply a benefit in exchange for waiving particular 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 extreme caution. There are no assurances included in this e-mail. The only thing I can inform you for specific is that if you alter your mind, the agency's most likely not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are basically quiting control over a lot.MARTIN: Exists some classification of staff member who you think 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 because leaving earlier than meant can have severe repercussions, potentially, on their benefits.MARTIN: Let me just play a clip from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. She informed press reporters that this is a great deal for people who don't want to return to the office. Let me simply play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is a recommendation to federal workers that they need to return in - to work. And employment if they don't, then they have the choice to resign, and this administration is really 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 out a signal to me that this return-to-office order is in bad faith, that it's designed to get folks who work actually hard to resign. I believe it's trying to pull the wool over a great deal of people's eyes because there are no assurances. And employment these are people who enjoy their job. They enjoy the objective of the agency. They work hard. And today, they're dealing with very difficult choices, especially if they're remote. I imply, employment it's very 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. or else 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 difficulties just to the deal itself? And employment if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This offer, to be honest, is so unmatched that I think a great deal of us are still attempting to determine what to do with it. I'm uncertain if the offer itself might 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 order agencies to offer this number of individuals administrative leave. So I think it is really much possibly setting the stage for obstacles since I feel OPM has vastly exceeded their authority.MARTIN: employment That is Michelle Bercovici. She is an employment lawyer with the Alden Law Group here in Washington, D.C. Thank you a lot for signing up with us.BERCOVICI: Thank you so much for having me here.

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