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MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: yogicentral.science Federal employees have up until February 6 to choose whether to voluntarily leave their jobs. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, OPM, notified workers 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 take leave and be paid till the end of September. Michelle Bercovici is an employment attorney who represents federal employees as a big part of her practice, so I asked her for her analysis about what OPM's postponed resignation program would actually mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I in fact do not consider it so much a deal. I believe it's a request to resign with an unclear pledge that, potentially, you could be kept in administrative leave status for approximately eight months - however no guarantees.MARTIN: Some individuals have been using the term buyout to describe what this is since there seems 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 never explain it as a buyout. I think that's an extremely misleading term to use in this circumstance. When you think about a buyout, there's generally some sort of composed arrangement or a concrete deal to offer a benefit in exchange for waiving particular rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If clients ask you for your suggestions, what are you informing them?BERCOVICI: First thing we tell them is exercise severe caution. There are no guarantees included in this e-mail. The only thing I can inform you for certain is that if you alter your mind, the firm's most likely not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and users.atw.hu you are basically offering up control over a lot.MARTIN: Is there some classification of staff member 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 need to be the most mindful because leaving earlier than planned can have severe effects, potentially, 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 good offer for individuals who do not want to return to the office. Let me simply play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is a tip to federal workers that they have to return in - to work. And biolink.palcurr.com if they do not, then they have the option to resign, and this administration is extremely kindly offering to pay them for botdb.win eight months.MARTIN: You're shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: It just - in a method, 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 tough to resign. I think it's trying to pull the wool over a great deal of people's eyes due to the fact that there are no guarantees. And these are individuals who like their job. They love the mission of the company. They strive. And today, they're facing very difficult options, particularly if they're remote. I imply, it's really coercive.MARTIN: You state it's coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, if you're somebody who resides 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 expect legal obstacles just to the deal itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This offer, to be honest, is so unprecedented that I think a lot of us are still attempting to find out what to do with it. I'm uncertain if the deal itself may be challengeable. I think the bigger concern is the execution of these terms. I'm not knowledgeable about any authority that exists right now for OPM to buy companies to give this variety of leave. So I think it is very much potentially setting the stage for difficulties since I feel OPM has actually greatly surpassed their authority.MARTIN: That is Michelle Bercovici. She is a work legal representative 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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