PMG Names New Chief Postal Inspector
PMG Jack Potter has named Guy Cottrell the 38th chief inspector of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. He begins his new assignment Aug. 1.
A 23-year postal employee, Cottrell has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of New Orleans. He most recently served as deputy chief inspector, where he was responsible for USPS national security programs.
In 1987, Cottrell began his postal career as a letter carrier in New Orleans. In 1990, he became a Postal Inspector in the New Orleans Division, where he investigated internal and external mail theft in Louisiana and southern Mississippi. He has held a number of supervisory positions in various major metropolitan areas, including management of the Inspection Service’s Washington field office during much of the 2001 anthrax investigations.
In 2008, Cottrell was named inspector in charge of the Security and Crime Prevention/Communications group. In that position, he guided the Inspection Service toward a risk and management analysis platform and streamlined security-related programs. His group produced several internal and external security and crime prevention publications and videos and also created a new Postal Inspection Service website.
Cottrell also will serve as chairman of the Universal Postal Union’s Postal Security Group.
source: USPS News Link
USPS and U.S. Postal Inspection Service To Mark National Consumer Protection Week March 7-13
Delivering Trust, Delivering Justice
WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. Postal Service and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service join with federal, state and local government agencies and consumer protection organizations to announce the 12th annual National Consumer Protection Week (NCPW), March 7-13. This coordinated consumer education campaign highlights the importance of protecting privacy and steering clear of fraud and scams.
This year’s theme – Dollars & Sense: Rated “A” for All Ages – encourages individuals to exercise good consumer sense at every stage of life – from grade school to retirement.
“It’s never too early or too late to become a more informed consumer,” said Delores J. Killette, U.S. Postal Service vice president and Consumer Advocate. “This year, NCPW’s goal is to educate consumers of all ages on how they can prevent becoming a victim of fraud and scams.”
In recognition of NCPW 2010, the Postal Service and Postal Inspection Service are calling attention to free resources to help people protect their privacy and avoid identity theft and other fraud schemes. Consumers can visit www.deliveringtrust.com for free fraud education and prevention videos about identity theft, work-at-home scams, internet fraud, foreign lotteries, investment scams and more. Viewers can follow the Chief Postal Inspector and Postal Service Consumer Advocate as they walk through the top ten scams to watch for. The website also offers tips on recognizing scams and instructions on reporting scammers to the appropriate authorities.
In addition, the Postal Inspection Service offers the following tips for consumers to avoid becoming a victim of fraud:
- Know the warning signs: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Watch out for offers that apply pressure to act “right away,” guarantee success, promise unusually high returns, require an upfront investment, don’t have the look of a real business or just don’t feel right.
- Know the facts: Banks will never e-mail or call for account numbers. There are no legitimate jobs that involve re-shipping items or financial instruments from home. Foreign lotteries are illegal in the U.S. If in doubt, check the company out with the Better Business Bureau.
- Play it safe: Never click on a link inside an e-mail to visit a web site; instead, type the address in a web browser. Retain receipts, statements and packing slips, and review them for accuracy. Place outgoing mail in the secure blue collection boxes, or deposit it in collection slots on the inside of a local Post Office. Shred confidential documents instead of simply discarding them in the trash.
- Get involved: Point out “too good to be true” offers to kids and teach them to be skeptical. Take an active interest in the financial activities of aging parents, especially if they’re facing an illness that could make them more vulnerable. Share information about scams with friends and family.
“We’re out to stop fraud – and you can help,” said William R. Gilligan, Jr., Chief Postal Inspector. “Many fraudulent offers can be identified and prevented before they cause any damage. Together we can help protect our families and ourselves from these crimes.”
This week across the country, participating Post Offices will host NCPW events to raise awareness of the most common fraudulent activities and what consumers can do to protect themselves. By shining a spotlight on issues and ideas that help individuals become better consumers of products, materials and services, the Postal Service and Postal Inspection Service hope to improve their knowledge of how to combat fraud.
Other national organizers of this year’s NCPW include AARP, the Comptroller of the Currency, the Consumer Federation of America, the Council of Better Business Bureaus, the Federal Citizen’s Information Center, the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Trade Commission, the National Association of Attorneys General, the National Association of Consumer Agency Administrators, the National Consumers League and the Department of the Treasury.
For more information about NCPW, visit www.consumer.gov/ncpw.
Postal Service Sending Military Mail to Haiti
Efforts to Establish Temporary Civilian Mail Distribution Site Continue
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Postal Service is delivering letters and packages bound for members of the U.S. Armed Forces deployed to Haiti as part of Operation Unified Response. The initial wave of military mail is flowing into Toussaint Louverture International Airport at Port-au-Prince in coordination with the Military Postal Service Agency (MPSA) to support the overall USAID effort in Haiti.
“We’re pleased to support our military personnel serving in Haiti with the vital connection to home that comes through the mail,” said Pranab Shah, managing director and vice president, Global Business. “We’ll continue to work closely with MPSA to ensure our service members receive their mail during this challenging humanitarian mission.”
The Postal Service has assigned a total of 20 APO, FPO, and DPO ZIP Codes at the request of MPSA for the efficient distribution of mail destined for military units serving in Haiti. The Postal Service also continues to support civilian recovery efforts by donating water and medical supplies while staging vehicles, portable buildings and mail sorting equipment for deployment to Haiti.
Efforts to establish a temporary civilian mail distribution site in Port-au-Prince are continuing on an international scale through the coordinated efforts of a task force led by the Universal Postal Union (UPU), the Postal Union of the Americas, Spain and Portugal (PUASP), Haiti Post and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS). USPIS Chief Postal Inspector William R. Gilligan Jr. serves as chairman of UPU’s Postal Security Action Group, and U.S. Postal Inspectors recently completed an initial security assessment of mail operations and capabilities in Haiti, representing the first step in reestablishing limited mail distribution operations in Port-au-Prince in order for the civilian population to begin receiving letters and packages.
Post Offices are continuing to accept letter mail and packages addressed to the nation of Haiti. However, all mail addressed to Haiti will be temporarily held by the Postal Service until the postal administration of Haiti is able to accept mail.
Additional information regarding acceptance and movement of mail to Haiti will be provided as it becomes available. Updates are posted online at http://www.usps.com/international/serviceupdates.htm#H17 .
source: USPS
DOJ, FBI And US Postal Inspection Service Announce Formal Conclusion of Investigation Into 2001 Anthrax Attacks
The following is a press release issued by the Justice Department:
The Justice Department, FBI and U.S. Postal Inspection Service today announced that the investigation into the 2001 anthrax attacks, which killed five individuals and sickened 17 others, has formally concluded.
Earlier today, representatives of the FBI and Justice Department provided a 92-page investigative summary along with attachments to victims of the attacks, relatives of the victims and appropriate committees of Congress. This document sets forth a summary of the evidence developed in the “Amerithrax” investigation, the largest investigation into a bio-weapons attack in U.S. history. As disclosed previously, the Amerithrax investigation found that the late Dr. Bruce Ivins acted alone in planning and executing these attacks.
The investigative summary and the attachments are now accessible to the public and have been posted to the Justice Department Web site at www.usdoj.gov/amerithrax under the Freedom of Information Act. In addition, roughly 2,700 pages of FBI documents related to the Amerithrax case are now accessible to the public and have been posted to the FBI website at http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/amerithrax.htm under the Freedom of Information Act.
The Amerithrax Task Force, which was comprised of roughly 25 to 30 full-time investigators from the FBI, U.S. Postal Inspection Service and other law enforcement agencies, as well as federal prosecutors from the District of Columbia and the Justice Department’s Counterterrorism Section, expended hundreds of thousands of investigator work hours on this case. Their investigative efforts involved more than 10,000 witness interviews on six different continents, the execution of 80 searches and the recovery of more than 6,000 items of potential evidence during the course of the investigation. The case involved the issuance of more than 5,750 grand jury subpoenas and the collection of 5,730 environmental samples from 60 site locations.
Postal Employees Rights During Surprise Investigations By USPS OIG
Filed under: APWU, oig, postal, postal inspectors, weingarten rights
GREG BELL, APWU DIRECTOR, INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
Visits by Postal Inspectors Or OIG Agents- which are usually unannounced – often catch employees by surprise, and sometimes cause them to panic. Our stewards, officers and arbitration advocates are doing an excellent job of defending union members, but this article should remind employees of their rights. After all, when you exercise your rights to the fullest, you help protect yourself the most. And unfortunately, postal inspectors and OIG agents have persisted in conducting overly zealous investigations that have resulted in employees being wrongly accused and issued notices of removals.
?Investigations by postal inspectors or OIG agents usually concern alleged employee misconduct in the workplace, but they also may relate to alleged violations of the law that could result in criminal charges. Whenever inspectors or OIG agents seek to interrogate an employee, the matter should be treated very seriously: Employees should always assert their right to assistance from a union representative. It is also important that employees be alerted not to give oral or written statements to OIG agents or inspectors unless they first have obtained advice from their steward and/or their attorney.
Before submitting to questions, employees should confer with a union representative, and ask inspectors the nature of the investigation. If the investigation potentially relates to a criminal offense, the steward should advise the employee to immediately inform the postal inspectors or Inspector General agents that he or she wishes to consult with an attorney before proceeding. Read more
PMG Names Replacement For USPS Chief Inspector Under Investigation
FORMER DEPUTY GENERAL COUNSEL TO ACT AS USPS INSPECTION SERVICE HEAD PMG Jack Potter has announced the appointment of William Gilligan as Acting Chief Postal Inspector to replace Chief Postal Inspector Al Lazaroff, who retires Nov. 3.
Gilligan has been the Deputy General Counsel at Headquarters since May 2000. He began his postal career in 1973 as a clerk-carrier in Philadelphia. Gilligan worked as a postal police officer and an Inspection Service analyst prior to becoming an attorney in 1987.
“Bill has served in a variety of leadership positions within the Law Department and has proven to be a strong and innovative leader who is extremely effective in working with teams to address strategic issues and delivering results,” Potter said.
Gilligan holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in criminal justice from Westchester State University. He earned a Doctorate degree in law from Delaware Law School.
source: USPS News Link
USPS Chief Postal Inspector Retires in Wake of ABC News Investigation
USPS Seeks Vendors For National Video Surveillance System
From FedBizOpps:
This Request for Proposal outlines the functional and performance requirements for TCP/IP-based video surveillance systems to be installed in a number of United States Postal Service facilities nation-wide. These systems will be managed by the Joint Criminal Investigative System Program Group (CISP) comprised of representatives of the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) and the Office of Inspector General, United States Postal Service (OIG). This system includes hardware and software to allow the capture of video images from both analog cameras (through IP encoders) and IP cameras of varying resolutions. Also included are provisions to store the images on open architecture PC-based servers local to each facility, monitor images locally, and integration to allow remote access, monitoring, and downloading of secure, authenticated video images. There are also provisions to integrate the video surveillance (CCTV) systems to other electronic security systems in use at these facilities.
Postal Carrier Pleads Guilty To Mail and OWCP Fraud
Filed under: legal cases, letter carriers, postal inspectors
Postal carrier observed working at another business on several occasions.
U.S Attorney District of New Hampshire Press Release
October 25, 2007
Arthur Martel, 55, of Hudson, NH, pleaded guilty to a four count Information before Judge Paul Barbadoro in U.S. District Court in Concord, New Hampshire. The Information charges Martel with two counts of Mail Fraud and two counts of making a False Statement to an agency of the United States.
The Information alleges that in 1996, defendant Martel, a former postal carrier in New Hampshire, submitted a U.S. Department of Labor form which caused him thereafter to be compensated for total disability at the rate of 75% of his full-time pay at the U.S. Postal Service.
By receiving disability pay from the Department of Labor, Martel was required to periodically submit a U.S. Department of Labor form [1] disclosing any work outside of his federal employment. The Information alleges that when submitting the aforementioned forms, Martel did not disclose his employment in the catering business. He falsified the filings to receive benefits.
Martel faces a maximum sentence of twenty years, a maximum fine of $1,000,000 and a term of supervised release of up to five years. Sentencing is scheduled for January 29, 2007[2] before Judge Barbadoro.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General, and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Irish.
PostalReporter.com notes:
[1] OWCP form CA 1032 states in part that “The kinds of services which you must report includes such activities as carpentry, mechanical work, painting, contracting, child care, odd jobs, etc. Report activities such as keeping books and records, or managing and/or overseeing a business of any kind, including a family business. Even if your activities were part-time or intermittent, you must report them.”
[2] Actually Martel’s sentencing is secheduled for January 29, 2008.
Postal Inspectors Sue USPS for Overtime Pay
A few excerpts from the recent federal case (note: the case was initially filed in 2003)
In a suit brought by current and former postal inspectors against the Postal Service alleging that they are entitled to overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), summary judgment for the Postal Service is reversed in part and remanded where: 1) 39 U.S.C. section 1003(c), which requires payment to inspectors on the basis of “comparability” to other similarly tasked executive branch employees, is not in clear conflict with the FLSA; 2) Congress did not implicitly repeal the FLSA’s overtime provisions to plaintiffs; 3) thus, the Postal Service’s construction of section 1003(c) was unreasonable; and 4) a remand was necessary to determine whether the inspectors are otherwise exempt from the FLSA.
This appeal principally involves the relationship between two labor statutes — the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 and a 1996 statute related to compensation for postal inspectors, 39 U.S.C. § 1003(c). Robert Nigg, a postal inspector currently employed by the United States Postal Service (”the Postal Service”) and Keith Lewis, a retired postal inspector, sued the Postal Service alleging that the inspectors are entitled to overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (”FLSA” or “the Act. The Postal Service does not pay postal inspectors FLSA overtime, instead claiming that their pay is governed by 39 U.S.C. § 1003(c). At issue is whether the compensation provision in § 1003(c) trumps the overtime provisions of the FLSA
In general, postal inspectors undertake criminal, civil and administrative investigations involving the postal laws.
The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the Postal Service, reasoning that 39 U.S.C. § 1003(c), which requires the Postal Service to pay the inspectors on a basis of “comparability” to other similarly tasked executive branch employees, permits the Postal Service to provide “availability pay” rather than FLSA overtime. The court adopted the Postal Service’s argument that postal inspectors are comparable to certain other federal law enforcement officers who receive availability pay under the Law Enforcement Availability Pay Act (LEAP).
FLSA overtime and availability pay differ significantly, both in terms of the hours of work required to qualify, and the way in which pay is calculated. For example, FLSA overtime entitles a covered employee to overtime pay for all hours worked in excess of 40 hours per week. In contrast, availability pay requires a covered employee to work an average of two extra hours of overtime per day beyond the eight hour day for the entire year to be entitled to extra pay for the extra hours worked.
FLSA’s overtime provisions presumptively apply to federal employees, such as the inspectors, unless a specific FLSA exemption applies. (”Each employee is presumed to be FLSA nonexempt unless the employing agency correctly determines that the employee clearly meets one or more of the exemption criteria[.]”). In enacting § 1003(c), Congress did not amend or repeal the FLSA, either explicitly or implicitly. We conclude that § 1003(c) is not clearly in conflict with the FLSA, and that Congress did not impliedly repeal the FLSA. (”‘Repeals by implication . . . are not favored and will only be found when the new[er] statute is clearly repugnant, in words or purpose, to the old statute . . . .’”) . We reverse the district court’s grant of summary judgment to the Postal Service and remand with instructions to consider whether the inspectors satisfy any FLSA exemption or are entitled to FLSA overtime.
In a deposition in this case of James K. Belz, a Postal Service executive in charge of budget issues, Belz testified he believed that with the creation of the IG office, longstanding pay inequities for postal inspectors had to be addressed or else the Postal Service inspectors would all seek to leave to go to the IG’s office.
Arbitrator Awards Clerk $50,000 for Postal Inspectors Misconduct
The following are excerpts from an August 23, 2007 arbitration award [via 21cpw.com] that documents abuse of a clerk by postal inspectors in Clifton, AZ. The Union grieved under Article 2 and 17 of the National Agreement and got $50,000.00 in damages. APWU was represented by Steve Zamanakos, National Business Agent, Denver Region.
Award: The grievance is properly before me under the provisions of Art. 2.3. The Inspectors violated Art. 2.1 & Postal Bulletin 21826: their conduct on May 27, 1999 created a hostile work environment for the Grievant. They also violated Art. 17.3, the MOU, a Step 4 Decision, & Inspection Service protocols by denying the Grievant representation. Dent violated ELM provisions when he interjected himself into the CA-1 process. The Agency failed to adequately supervise the Inspectors, failed to cooperate with the Union during the grievance process and failed to investigate the Grievant’s sexual harassment claim in violation of Postal Bulletin 21826. The grievance is sustained and damages awarded. Read more