USPS Data On Postal Employees Approved For VER
VOLUNTARY EARLY RETIREMENT
The Postal Service has released additional details on the voluntary early retirement (VER) offer recently authorized by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for USPS employees in clerk, mail handler, supervisor of distribution operations, and supervisor of customer services positions.
The offer is open to employees in positions that meet the OPM conditions and who are at least 50 years of age with 20 years of creditable federal service or any age with 25 years of creditable federal service.
VER Group 1 includes clerks, mail handlers and initial level supervisors of mail processing and customer service. The group has 72,000 eligible employees. The application deadline was Sept. 30. USPS has approved the applications of 3,685 employees, whose retirement date is Dec. 31, 2008.
VER Group 2 includes headquarters and headquarters-related employees, as well as rural and letters carriers. This group has 67,000 eligible employees. The applications deadline was Nov. 21. USPS has approved the applications of 4,049 employees, and their retirement date is Feb. 28, 2009.
Finally, VER Group 3 consists of field EAS and Postmasters — 17,000 eligible employees. The application deadline for this group is Feb. 9, 2009. Their retirement date is March 31, 2009.
Source: USPS
Photo: Post Office in Slidell Texas
Post Office: Slidell, Texas 76267
USPS: Changes to the Rehabilitation Act
From USPS via PostalReporter.com reader
Effective January 1, 2009, the definition of an individual with a “disability” as defined under both the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) will be significantly expanded. This is due to the passage of the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) that sets new standards for determining disability status. Managers, supervisors and the Reasonable Accommodation Committees (RACs) need to be aware of the extent of the changes in the ADAAA so they can assess requests for reasonable accommodation in accordance with these new standards.
Although the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) will issue regulations implementing these new provisions, the regulations will not be published by January 1.Nonetheless, employers must still comply with the law. Consequently, we are providing you with the attached synopsis of the changes in the law so that you are fully informed about the new standards and for use as a guide in making reasonable accommodation decisions.
USPS:Changes to the Rehabilitation Act – click here for the PDF file
New Family and Medical Leave Act Poster
From PostalReporter.com reader
A revised Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) poster, reflecting the recently published final rule, is now available for viewing and downloading. Every employer covered by the FMLA is required to post and keep posted on its premises, in conspicuous places where employees are employed, a notice explaining the Act’s provisions. Employee’s Serious Health Condition (WH-380E) and a Family Member’s Serious Health Condition (WH-380F).
The Department has also revised its Notice of Eligibility and Rights and Responsibilities form (WH-381). In addition, the Department has added new forms for Designation Notice to Employee of FMLA Leave (WH-382), Certification of Qualifying Exigency for Military Family Leave (WH-384), and Certification for Serious Injury or Illness of Covered Servicemember for Military Family Leave (WH-385)
The poster and forms become effective on January 16, 2009. Additional compliance assistance materials are also available on FMLA Final Rule Web site at http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/fmla/finalrule.htm.
APWU Files Second ‘Dispute’ Over Postal Service’s Two-Tour Initiative
APWU News
The APWU has filed a second Step 4 dispute [PDF] protesting the Postal Service’s nationwide program to eliminate or drastically reduce Tour 2 assignments and employees. The dispute, filed Dec. 16, is a companion to another Step 4 protest [PDF] filed the same day, and recaps many of the allegations made by the union in an Unfair Labor Practice Charge [PDF] filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on Nov. 25.
The Step 4 dispute (HQTG200820) focuses on management’s violation of Article 17.5.B.4, which requires the Postal Service to jointly discuss new initiatives with the union during the development stage, and to bargain in good faith. The APWU learned of management’s plan to compress mail processing operations to two tours from local union officials, the dispute notes, and received no notification from the Postal Service.
The dispute also asserts that the USPS failed and refused to provide the APWU with relevant information requested by the union. In response to a written request for documentation regarding any “nationwide or region or district-wide program, plans or initiatives to eliminate e or reduce Tour 2 operations and/or Tour 2 staffing,” the Postal Service informed the APWU that “no such documentation exists,” the dispute notes.
“However, to the contrary,” the dispute says, “evidence shows that there is a two-tour initiative that is, in fact, nationwide in scope and initiated by the Postal Service at the national level… In fact, many local presidents have been informed by local management that they have been instructed by headquarters to initiate this program…
“The Postal Service assertions that there is no nationwide two-tour initiative and no information responsive to the Union’s request is false,” the dispute says.
In addition, the plan violates the parties’ commitment to protect day-shift assignments, the union contends. “The protection of existing day-shift Tour 2 assignments was central to the historic agreement reached in 2006 contract negotiations,” and management’s actions violate Article 7.1.B.4 and the Memorandum of Understanding regarding the Supplemental Workforce and the Conversion of Clerk Craft Part-Time Flexibles.
The union requested that impacted duty assignments be restored, and that affected employees returned to their duty assignments and made whole.
[ (12/17/08) Union Files ‘Dispute’ Over Elimination of Tour 2 ]
[ (11/25/08) Union Files Unfair Labor Practice Charge Over Elimination of Tour 2 ]
New York Postmaster Sentenced To Prison For Embezzling $100,000
Filed under: legal cases, Postmasters, press releases, usdoj
BUFFALO, N.Y.–Julie R. Cashmore, 46, of Lakewood, New York, who was convicted of theft of governmental property on August 13, 2008, was sentenced to 15
months in prison followed by 2 years supervised release by U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny, U.S. Attorney Terrance P. Flynn of the Western District of New York announced today.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Marie P. Grisanti, who handled the case, stated that from October 2006 through January, 2008, the defendant had been convicted of theft of governmental property while employed as Postmaster of the Greenhurst, New York Post Office. The defendant stole U.S. Postal Service money orders and the proceeds from the sale of postage stamps totaling $100,117.10. The Court also ordered the defendant to make restitution.
The conviction was the culmination of an investigation on the part of Special Agents of the United States Postal Service-Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Joseph Finn, Special Agent In Charge.
APWU Files ‘Dispute’ Over USPS Plan To Eliminate Tour 2
APWU News
The APWU has initiated a Step 4 dispute [PDF] with the Postal Service, protesting management’s nationwide plan to eliminate or drastically reduce Tour 2 assignments and employees. The dispute, filed Dec. 16 by union President William Burrus, is in addition to an Unfair Labor Practice charge filed by the APWU with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on Nov. 25.
The dispute notes that during a Dec. 10 meeting on the subject, management officials presented the union with a briefing on the two-tour initiative, including the involvement of headquarters-level postal officials. The briefing and documents indicate that management has initiated a “major relocation of employees” through its plan to compress mail-processing operations into two tours, “reassigning a majority of day shift Tour 2 employees to other tours.”
“The major reduction and relocation of employees on Tour 2 is a significant change to the three-tour operation that has been in existence for over 200 years,” the union contends, “with Tour 2 being the most sought after hours of work for the most senior employees.”
Through the premature implementation of the program, APWU bargaining unit employees have been relocated and reassigned, in violation of contractual requirements for at least 90 day advance notice at the national level and for advance notice of as much as six months at the regional level, the dispute says. (The requirements are stipulated in Article 12.4.B of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, but no advance notification was provided by the Postal Service to the union’s national or regional officers.)
The union has requested that all employees who were improperly reassigned be returned to their assignments and “made whole.” The union also requested that “no Tour 2 employees be reassigned to other tours or duty assignments until the advance notice period has been satisfied.”
USPS Among Companies Cited As ‘Most Trusted’ For Privacy
Ponemon Institute Honors USPS Among 200 Businesses
The premier privacy trust study in America has cited the U.S. Postal Service as sixth among 200 of the “Most Trusted Companies for Privacy.”
For the fifth year in a row, the U.S. Postal Service has been recognized by the Ponemon Institute for its best practices in safeguarding U.S. consumers’ personal information among private sector companies. This year, the Postal Service moved up one position from last year’s listing.
“Over our 230-year history, the U.S. Postal Service has placed a very high premium upon the security of the mail,” said Delores Killette, USPS vice president and Consumer Advocate. “We jealously guard the valued trust and respect we’ve painstakingly earned from our customers,” she added.
The study asked more than 6,000 adult-aged U.S. consumers which companies they thought were most trustworthy in handling their personal information responsibly. Of the 706 companies consumers cited, 211 businesses made it to the final list of most trusted. Number six on that list is the U.S. Postal Service.
“Consumers want to do business with brands they believe they can trust,” said Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder, Ponemon Institute. “We believe our study is a strong indication of which brands have best earned that trust.”
The Institute has also cited the Postal Service as the “Most Trusted Government Agency” for four years in a row. Increasing its privacy trust score every year since the survey began four years ago, the Postal Service has been recognized as the government agency that is best able to keep consumers’ information safe and secure. Those scores are expected to be released early next year.
source: U.S. Postal Service
Two Postal Union Officers Plead Guilty To Embezzlement
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) today announced its criminal enforcement data for November 2008
Guilty Pleas
Former Letter Carriers Branch 272 Secretary-Treasurer Pleads Guilty to Embezzling $45,000
On Nov. 6, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, Kevin Sherlock, former secretary-treasurer of the National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 272 (located in Newton, N.J.), pleaded guilty to embezzling union funds in the amount of $45,000. The plea follows a joint investigation by the OLMS New York District Office and the U.S. Postal Service Office of the Inspection General.
Former APWU Officer Pleads Guilty to Embezzling More Than $18,000
On Nov. 17, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Tina Curtis, former secretary-treasurer of American Postal Workers Union (APWU) Local 232 (located in Columbus, Ohio), pleaded guilty to one count of embezzling union funds in the amount of $18,283. The plea follows an investigation by the OLMS Cleveland District Office.
SOURCE U.S. Department of Labor
Olympia APWU Local To Hold Picket for Fired President and Return of Mail Operations
Filed under: APWU, consolidations, postal, press releases, usps
Informational Picket to Call for Return of APWU Union President and Return of Mail Operations to Olympia
For Immediate Release 12/2/08 Contact Louie Mackey, Organizer (360) 357-6231
The Olympia Local of the American Postal Workers Union will be holding an informational picket on Monday, January 12, 2009 from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm at the Olympia Downtown Post Office located at 900 Jefferson Street in Olympia, Washington. The informational picket is to call for the Postal Service to bring fired Union President Clint Burelson back to work and to bring the outgoing mail operations back to Olympia. The community is invited to join us in our efforts.
The Postal Service recently fired Local Union President Clint Burelson for his union activities and major role as a whistleblower in exposing the fact that mail consolidations would reduce service and not save money. The Postal Service’s plans for over 150 consolidations all across the country have been stopped once communities learned the truth about mail consolidation.
Clint is a strong advocate for workers in the Post Office and Management is firing Clint for performing his duties as a union representative. Despite many grievance settlements signed by the Postal Service in which they agreed to cease and desist in discriminating against Clint for his union activities, management continues to discriminate against Clint. The Postal Service needs to stop the discrimination and bring Clint back to work.
The Postal Service recently admitted in a required review of the consolidation that they have lost $1.5 million dollars in 6 months as a result of the transfer of outgoing mail operations from Olympia to Tacoma. The Postal Service had previously claimed that the transfer of the mail to Tacoma would save the Postal Service $1.2 million. The Postal Service therefore made at least a $2.7 million mistake in judgment. After the last picket held by the union, a Postal Service spokesperson told the media covering the picket that the Post Office saved money by the consolidation. However, despite information requests from the union, the Post Office has not provided any documentation in support of their spokesperson’s claims of savings. As it stands, the official documentation provided by the Post Office shows the consolidation to be a financial mistake.
The Post Office has said that they would bring the mail back to Olympia if the move were not cost effective. The reduction in mail service, the loss of the Olympia postmark, and the financial costs of processing local mail in Tacoma is clear evidence that it is now time to bring the mail back to Olympia.
archive: Olympia Washington Mail Processing Consolidation Information put out by Clint Burelson