EEOC Rules USPS Must Process Class Action Complaint For Rehab Postal Employees

Edmond Walker, a Temporary Rural Carrier Relief, filed a class complaint alleging that discriminatory acts had been continuing for a class of disabled permanent rehabilitation employees in the Postal Service. The EEOC Administrative Judge certified the class. On appeal, the Postal Service argued that the certified class was poorly defined and the class members were unidentifiable. The EEOC found that the class was sufficiently defined to enable the parties to identify potential class members. The EEOC also determined that the class met all the requirements for certification, and therefore, ordered the Postal Service on March 18, 2008 to process the class complaint within 30 days. Walker v. Potter

Background

The lawyers in Glover/Albrecht EEO Class Action complaint sought to include Walker case:

“On March 9, 2002, class counsel filed a motion requesting that the Commission add Edmond Walker as a co-class agent in this case. Mr. Walker’s issues included restricting permanent rehabilitation employees’ work hours; including overtime. In considering this issue, the Administrative Judge noted to the parties that if Mr. Walker and his issues were added to the lawsuit the entire class would have to be renoticed. In light of the possible delay and the additional complexity of adding this issue, class counsel withdrew his request to add Mr. Walker as a co-class agent who raised the overtime issue. Class counsel did not abandon this issue. Instead, Mr. Walker filed a separate class complaint which includes the overtime issue.”

Edmond C. Walker, the class agent in the Walker class action, filed a complaint on August 19, 2002. Walker alleged that, since April 2000, the Postal Service discriminated against individuals with disabilities by:

1.  Placing disabled individuals in permanent rehabilitation positions without engaging in the interactive process as required by law;

2. Restricting disabled individuals who are placed in permanent rehabilitation [sic] to limited work hours without any medical justification and without consulting the individual with a disability;

3. Fail[ing] to allow individuals with a disability, who have been placed in permanent rehabilitation positions, to work the number of hours determined appropriate by the individual and his/her physician and which are available; and

4. Fail[ing] to allow individuals with a disability, who have been placed in permanent rehabilitation positions, to use assistive devices in the workplace to accommodate their disabilities, including but not limited to, electric scooters, notwithstanding that said assistive devices pose no threat to safety or inconvenient [sic] in the workplace.

This claim has been analyzed to include denial of overtime.

On December 12, 2003, an EEOC Administrative Judge  issued a decision concerning the Walker class complaint.  The Administrative Judge  ordered the Postal Service to “identify all those pending complaints that raise the same issue as the Walker class complaint during the time frame encompassed by the Walker class complaint, January 1, 2000, to the present.”  For those complaints that had already been forwarded to an Administrative Judge– AJ ruled that they be placed into abeyance by the Administrative Judge assigned to the case.

The Administrative Judge issued a decision on May 12, 2005, granting certification after finding that the requirements of commonality, typicality, numerosity, and adequacy of representation were satisfied. Additionally, the AJ found there was no basis for dismissal of the class complaint under 29 C.F.R. § 1614.107. Accordingly, the AJ certified the following class: “all permanent rehabilitation employees whose duty hours have been restricted, from January 1, 2000, to the present, allegedly in violation of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.” The AJ stated that “[f]or purposes of this litigation a permanent rehabilitation employee includes any rehabilitation program employee whose USPS employee records reflect an employee status code of LDC 69 and/or an employee status code of RC and/or RD.”

On September 30, 2005, the agency issued its Notice of Final Action declining to implement the AJ’s decision. On appeal, the agency argues that the certified class is poorly defined and the class members are unidentifiable. The agency notes that the AJ provided no definition for the phrase “duty hour restriction” which it argues makes the class legally untenable. The agency claims that although the AJ identified two specific types of restrictions in his definition – restrictions limiting the number of hours generally worked and duty hour restrictions that allegedly result in the denial of overtime – the types of restrictions are open to all sorts of interpretations. Further, the agency claims it is impossible to identify who had duty hours restricted or who among permanent rehabilitation employees are disabled. The agency stated that although it can determine the number of permanent rehabilitation employees between January 1, 2000, and the present, there is no way to identify which of those employees had their duty hours restricted.

The Postal Service Argued that “the determination of whether a purported class member is disabled, regarded as disabled, or has a record of a disability cannot be made without resort to thousands of mini trials, making class treatment inappropriate. The agency notes that although a person in a permanent rehabilitation job by definition has an injury causing a permanent restriction, this does not mean that every injury necessarily constitutes an impairment under the Rehabilitation Act or that every permanent restriction constitutes a substantial limitation on a major life activity. The agency states that given the varying natures of permanent rehabilitation employees’ injuries, there is only one major life activity which they all have in common: working. However, the agency notes that the permanent rehabilitation employees are all working and argues that therefore, that they cannot be considered substantially limited in working.”

The Postal Service also argued that “complainant’s EEO Counselor contact is untimely since no acts of discrimination occurred within the 45 days prior to his May 29, 2002 EEO Counselor contact on the class issue. Rather, the agency argues that the alleged discriminatory action occurred in May 2000, when complainant first accepted a 14-hour a week permanent rehabilitation position. With regard to the AJ’s finding that complainant moved for class certification at a reasonable point in the process, the agency claims that complainant did not formally move for class certification until December 8, 2003, almost 3 1/2 years after Filing his individual complaint and did not file a class complaint until August 22, 2002, more than two years after filing his individual complaint.”

EEOC’s response in part: “We find that complainant has met the requirements of commonality and typicality. Complainant alleged that the agency has a nationwide practice of restricting the duty hours of permanent rehabilitation employees who are disabled. In support of his allegation, complainant submitted declarations from employees from geographically dispersed agency facilities who each asserted that they were permanent rehabilitation employees and had then-work hours restricted. Thus, we find that the evidence supplied is sufficient to support an inference that there is a class of persons who were harmed by the identified agency policy or practice of restricting work hours and that the class will share common questions of fact.”

“It is the decision of the Commission to certify the class comprised of individuals with disabilities in permanent rehabilitation positions who had their duty hours restricted beginning on March 24, 2000. The agency is ORDERED to process the remanded class complaint in accordance with 29 C.F.R. §1614.204(e) et seq. Within 15 calendar days of the date this decision becomes final, the agency shall notify all class members of the acceptance of the class complaint in accordance with § 1614.204(e). Within 30 calendar days of the date this decision becomes final, the agency shall provide the appropriate EEOC District Office with a copy of the notice sent to the class members, and shall request the appointment of an AJ, who shall undertake the continued processing of the complaint pursuant to § 1614.204(f) et seq. The agency shall provide a copy of the notice of certification and request for appointment of an EEOC Administrative Judge to the Compliance Officer, as referenced herein.”

22 thoughts on “EEOC Rules USPS Must Process Class Action Complaint For Rehab Postal Employees

  1. This is the only company I know of, that allows a manager/POstmaster to pay an injured employee who’s has come back from an injury to sit in a little room and open bags of rubber bands and count them out to a 100 and put them in a plastic bag.just to give them to carriers at thier routes ..Just to harrass and degrade that person.instead of working with them to get the job Done!! Now Who’s Wasting $$$$$ way to go Dumb A.. NOW i call that a fair job offer. anyone want to see this i have it in writing ..OH By the way all i asked the PM was.. Should I put the route NUmber on each of the rubbebands before i put em in the bag..and they say they dont discriminate..disabled from this job and a veteran thank you Very much .Nothern ill Dist..a job well done!!!!

  2. been on limited duty since 04,other employees light/limited/rehab in my facility have gone back to regular duty just for the o.t. since management has stopped offering it to the above.they constantly ask when are you coming back to regular duty,we don’t know what is going to happen with your job.others in the same situation are allowed to work holidays,ot.these clowns end up giving me overtime to settle all the greivances.HARRASMENT?STUPIDITY! YOU BET$$$

  3. i got hurt on the job from faulty equipment, and left with a shorter arm then the other. do this is private industry and they settle with you. it screws up your s.s. and your pay from then on.
    we as rehab. did not ask to be one, it happened they designed a new post con because of me. they used to have screws that held the webbing together after my injury of 1,500 lbs coming down on me, they welded the sides.

    i went through a lot of pain and lost of pay, i didnt ask for it.

  4. Chicago District of the United States Postal Service.

    The Albrecht/Glover class-action is a joke.The scheduled settlement of payment to eligible employee’s was immediately reduced upon the realization that the government and the Post-office had to many injured workers on there hands so as result they simple lowered the rewards. The Chicago District 211 s Clark Whites need not apply especially if your a injured white male. But than again it only took them 14 years !

  5. I’m not technically a rehab but a “restricted” 8 & 40 hr City Letter Carrier. Everything was fine when I could work the OT and the pay was great. Since about 1997 “HAD” alot of pain (plantar fasciitis) restricted to 40 hrs so I can work and not be a rehab who are treated like dirt. The push cart issue has been active with the threat of a WalMart transfer. I just have to put up with harassment to get the job done in 8 w/o any OT or the $ that goes w/ it. It’s definitely unfair treatment and singling out for RESTRICTED US Letter Carriers- even with 4 different Postmasters and umpteen “stupervisors”. Call your local EEO with your complaint. Go Edmond Walker.

  6. Do any of you know what disability retirement pays? A grand total of 60% of your salary the first year and 40% evry year thereafter. Try to make it on that.

  7. They changed the status codes shortly after the intial suit. Ldc code was changed for me 3 different times. Permanent injured full time rural was ldc 69 then it when to another 60’s number. Do not know what it is now. Injured in 1998. Now full time clerk. Been at p.o. since 1985.

  8. first off LATINA TIME is a male not a female. he may not even work for the PO. so everyone should take what this JACKASS says with a grain of salt. by the responses that he gives, he sounds like a 13 year old little boy who just wants some attention. it’s a fact that children wanting attention will show positive or negitive traits just to get that attention. i don’t know, but maybe his mommy or daddy is a supervisor in the PO and he thinks he is taking up for them when he over hears them complaining about the PO! whew… what a little jerk!!!

  9. hahaha latina-you’ve said it all- YOU might come to work and you keep running your mouth-but do you REALLY DO any work??? maybe that’s why you haven’t ever been in pain. You’re probably a management slug or scab…doing your “WORK” under the manager’s desk….you must certainly not be a mailhandler, clerk, carrier…most of us have some aches and pains after 20 something years here…

  10. NO OTHER INDUSTRY BABYSITS SICK, LAME AND LAZY SLUGS LIKE THE POST OFFICE DOES! I HAVE BEEN AROUND FOR OVER 20 YEARS, NEVER INJURED! HMMMM? NOW WE HAVE WIMPS WHO WORK FOR A YEAR, OR LESS, THEN THEY ARE PERMANENTLY DISABLED??? HAHAHA! YEAH, RIGHT..WELL, YOUR RIDE IS ALMOST OVER, THEN YOU WILL BE WALMARTS PROBLEM, OR SOME OTHER COMPANY WILLING TO TAKE OUR FLOTSAM AND JETSAM.. SO LONG, AND GOOD RIDDANCE TO A BUNCH OF LAZY, WHINING,WORTHLESS LYING SLUGS! YOU WON’T BE MISSED…..

  11. I haven’t been on for a while but I thought Latina whoever got fired for running her big mouth.

  12. I am sure someone will catch my error so I will say that I meant why don’t they retire or earn their pay

  13. Some of the employees on rehab duties work harder than those on full duty so why don’t get retire or earn their pay

  14. There are provisions for people who can’t perform the duties of their assigned craft. It’s called disability retirement. Stop having everyone else carry the load for you. Get a Life.

  15. latina-get a life….i hope someday you are disabled and get treated like crap. I still come to work each day in pain. there is no surgery that can stop that pain. If medication is taken, i wouldn’t be able to work with side affects. i hope someday you hateful jerks will experience the same pain that i suffer with each day.

  16. well, simple solution,,get well and get back to work like everyone else!!!!!!!!!

  17. we will never receive our rights as we should. management will and does find ways to harrass us. see the upcoming rehab. reassessment program ….

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