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MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal workers have up until February 6 to decide whether to voluntarily leave their tasks. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, OPM, informed 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 up until completion of September. Michelle Bercovici is an employment attorney who represents federal workers as a big part of her practice, so I asked her for her interpretation about what OPM's deferred resignation program would actually mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I in fact don't consider it a lot an offer. I believe it's a request to resign with an unclear guarantee that, possibly, you could be kept in administrative leave status for as much as 8 months - however no guarantees.MARTIN: Some individuals have actually been using the term buyout to describe what this is since there appears to be the offer of administrative leave for up to eight months if you take this deal. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would never explain it as a buyout. I think that's a really deceptive term to utilize in this scenario. When you think of a buyout, there's generally some sort of composed agreement or a concrete deal to supply an in exchange for waiving certain 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 extreme caution. There are no assurances contained in this e-mail. The only thing I can tell you for specific is that if you alter your mind, employment the firm's most likely not going to let you withdraw that resignation, employment and you are basically giving up control over a lot.MARTIN: Is there some classification of employee who you believe this might benefit? Maybe they're close to retirement. Is someone like that might this be an attractive offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement need to be the most cautious since leaving earlier than planned can have serious effects, potentially, on their benefits.MARTIN: employment Let me just play a clip from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. She told reporters that this is a bargain for individuals who don't wish to return to the office. Let me simply play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is a recommendation to federal employees that they have to return in - to work. And if they do not, then they have the option to resign, and this administration is very kindly using 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 remains in bad faith, that it's created to get folks who work really tough to resign. I believe it's attempting to pull the wool over a great deal of people's eyes because there are no assurances. And these are individuals who like their task. They like the objective of the firm. They work hard. And right now, they're facing extremely hard choices, particularly if they're remote. I indicate, it's very coercive.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. otherwise we're going to fire you, they might feel that they have no choice than to take this option.MARTIN: Do you expect legal difficulties simply to the deal itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This deal, to be truthful, is so unmatched that I think a lot of us are still attempting to find out what to do with it. I'm not exactly sure if the offer itself may be challengeable. I think the larger concern is the execution of these terms. I'm not familiar with any authority that exists today for OPM to order companies to provide this number of people administrative leave. So I believe it is extremely much possibly setting the phase for employment challenges due to the fact that 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 so much for signing up with us.BERCOVICI: Thank you so much for having me here.

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