MSPB to Hear Oral Arguments in NRP Appeals On December 13th
Filed under: mspb, nrp, postal, postal news, press releases, usps
On Tuesday, December 13, 2011, MSPB will hear oral arguments in the matters of James C. Latham v. U.S. Postal Service, MSPB Docket Number DA-0353-10-0408-I-1; Ruby N. Turner v. U.S. Postal Service, MSPB Docket Number SF-0353-10-0329-I-1; Arleather Reaves v. U.S. Postal Service, MSPB Docket Number CH-0353-10-0823-I-1; Cynthia E. Lundy v. U.S. Postal Service, MSPB Docket Number AT-0353-11-0369-I-1; and Marcella Albright v. U.S. Postal Service, MSPB Docket Number DC-0752-11-0196-I-1 (Latham et al.). The proceedings will take place at 10:00 a.m. at the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Room 201, 717 Madison Place, N.W., Washington, D.C. See 76 FR 73691, November 29, 2011.
Latham et al. raise the following legal issues: (1) May a denial of restoration be “arbitrary and capricious” within the meaning of 5 C.F.R. § 353.304(c) solely for being in violation of the U.S. Postal Service’s own internal rules; and (2) what is the extent of the agency’s restoration obligation under its own internal rules, i.e., under what circumstances do the agency’s rules require it to offer a given task to a given partially recovered employee as modified work? The Board requested and received an advisory opinion from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in this matter. See 5 U.S.C. § 1204(e)(1)(A). The Board also invited and received amicus curiae briefs. See 76 FR 44373, July 25, 2011.
The parties and the two amici curiae who asked to participate in oral argument will be allotted time to present oral argument in this matter. The briefs submitted by the parties and the amici curiae, as well as OPM’s advisory opinion, are available for viewing on MSPB’s website at http://www.mspb.gov/oralarguments/. The MSPB will also make a recording of the oral argument available on its website. The public is welcome to attend this hearing for the sole purpose of observation. Persons with disabilities who require reasonable accommodation to participate in this event should direct the request to the MSPB Director of Equal Employment Opportunity at (202) 254-4405 and V/TDD users should call via relay. All requests should be made at least one week in advance.
This is the third time that MSPB has conducted an oral argument in the past 15 months after not hearing oral arguments for over 20 years. The MSPB continues to utilize oral argument in appeals like Latham et al. that present issues of special significance because of their broad potential impact on the Federal civil service and merit systems.
The U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) is an independent, quasi‐judicial agency that protects Federal merit systems and the rights of individuals within those systems. The MSPB also conducts studies of the civil service and other merit systems in the Executive Branch.
source: Merit System Protection Board
Federal Disability Retirement for Postal Employees: Does the NRP Guarantee Success?
Editorial by Attorney Robert R. McGill, an exclusive to PostalReporter.com
In preparing, formulating and filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS or CSRS, one of the issues which always must be confronted is whether or not the U.S. Postal Service can accommodate an individual’s medical conditions, and the letters which are issued by the U.S. Postal Service as a result of the National Reassessment Process, might give some comfort to the Postal Worker that the issue of accommodation might be satisfied, and therefore that the chances of obtaining an approval of a Federal Disability Retirement application might be greatly enhanced. Such a belief, however, might result not only in a potential miscalculation, but lead one into a fatal error based upon wrong assumptions. Read more
Postal Workers Sent Home Or Hours Reduced Under USPS NRP Can Apply For Unemployment
Injured employees who undergo the National Reassessment Process (NRP) and are told by the Postal Service either that there is only partial-day work available or that there is no work available, should consider applying for unemployment compensation. This temporary financial assistance can serve as an important monetary bridge during the time that an employee is waiting for his or her OWCP compensation to be processed.
This program is formally known as the Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employee’s Program, and is administered by the states under separate agreements with the U.S. Secretary of Labor. A Postal Service employee’s entitlement to this benefit is determined by each state’s employment security laws and varies according to the individual state rules and the employee’s wage and separation history.
An injured employee whose work hours have been reduced or eliminated by the NRP should ask the Postal Service to provide them with a Form SF 8, Notice to Former Employee About Unemployment Insurance. Don’t be misled by the phrase “former employee.” The SF 8 is also used for current employees who have had their work hours reduced or eliminated. The complete instructions can be found in Chapter 550, “Unemployment Compensation,” of the Employee and Labor Relations Manual.
Health and Resource Management personnel at Postal Service headquarters have assured us that the SF 8 will be made available to injured employees who receive “Partial Day Work” or “Complete Day No Work” letters. However, the employee must ask for the form. It will not be provided automatically.
Injured employees who are provided work on an intermittent basis are issued an SF 8 only for the first time in each calendar year when they are placed in a non-pay status. However, an SF 8 is issued each time to any employee who is, or will be, placed in a non-pay status for seven or more consecutive calendar days.
To facilitate the processing of a claim for unemployment compensation, an employee should take with them the SF 8; the most recent SF 50, Notification of Personnel Action; their Social Security card; W-2 form, and a recent pay stub showing earnings and leave balance.
OWCP will pay injured employees wage loss compensation even if they are receiving unemployment compensation. OWCP does not consider this situation to be a prohibited dual payment. However, virtually every state’s unemployment compensation regulations do consider this to be a dual payment, and would expect to be reimbursed for the unemployment compensation that was paid during the same period that a person received OWCP wage loss compensation.
note: Any Postal Employee can apply for unemployment if: “An individual whose work or tours of duty are on an intermittent basis is issued an SF 8 only the first time in each calendar year that he or she is placed in a nonpay status. [e.g. suspension of more than 7 days, PTF hours reduced..]
source: American Postal Workers Union
links provided by PostalReporter.com
Thirteen Charges Dismissed Against Ohio Postal Worker For OWCP Fraud
Last year, PostalReporter reported that Three Ohio Postal Workers Charged With OWCP Fraud. Since the release of this news item at least one Postal Worker has been exonerated of all charges.
The news release from the U.S. Attorney, Northern Ohio District last year stated:
A thirteen-count indictment was returned against Marlise Y. Taylor, age 43, of Broadview Heights, Ohio, charging her with four counts of Mail Fraud, six counts of Making Fraudulent Statements to Obtain Federal Employee Compensation, and three counts of False Statements. The indictment alleges that between April 28, 2006, and May 11, 2007, Taylor, a Supervisor of Distribution Operations, submitted false claims forms to the U.S. Department of Labor in which she failed to reveal her ability to work and her true medical condition resulting in the U.S. Department of Labor issuing worker’s compensation checks in the total aggregate amount of $39,490.45.
Well according to Marlise Taylor:
Although innocent until proven guilty, my name and the particulars of the allegations against me were reported as if I were already a criminal. I gave 21 years of my life and my tax dollars to the U. S. Postal Service only to be targeted by the postal service’s National Reassessment Plan (NRP) and the Office of Inspector General (OIG) strictly based on my disability, as have many other postal workers, on a national level, who became injured during the course of their employment.
I would like to inform you that on 8/2/2010, the federal prosecutor dismissed all thirteen federal charges against me. The reason they were dismissed is for lack of sufficient evidence because the Special Agent of the Office of Inspector General (OIG) in my case, ___________, withheld exculpatory evidence that would have exonerated me from the very beginning had he reported the whole truth instead of his contrived misrepresentations. And, it is my speculation, that he also withheld the same evidence from the Grand Jury in order to obtain an indictment against me. In my case, it appears that Special Agent _______ has stolen from the taxpayers, and not me. Attached is a copy of my dismissal of the charges.
Below is a copy of the court order dismissing all charges against Marlise Taylor:
Thirteen Charges Against Marlise Taylor For OWCP Fraud Dismissed
Federal Disability Retirement and the U.S. Postal Service: Lack of Loyalty & Full of Shortsightedness
The following is an article from Attorney Robert R. McGill written exclusively for PostalReporter:
There was a time when the U.S. Postal Service worked in conjunction with the Department of Labor (under FECA/OWCP) to keep hard-working Postal employees who were injured on the job, with offers of modified duties to retain a productive workforce. It was a time when the USPS was forward-looking; when competition from other companies was of no concern, because the USPS had the most productive workforce and could compete with the best of them. Part of the reason why this was so was because of a conceptual paradigm which is fast disappearing: Loyalty.
Loyalty, as a working corporate model, requires a bilateral conceptual paradigm. By retaining injured workers and providing them with meaningful work in a modified environment and tools, the U.S. Postal Service was daily telling its people: You worked hard for us those many years; we will work with you and remain loyal.
Fast-forward to the present day. Postal Workers who for several years have worked under the Rehabilitation Job Offer Guidelines, are suddenly handed a letter which states: “Notice of No Work Available within the operational needs of the service.” The letter goes on to delineated the fact that such determination of unavailability of work is based upon a “comprehensive review” of the USPS operational needs and comparing them to the current medical documentation of the injured Postal Employee. What is missing in this “new” paradigm? Does this reflect an organization which looks to its competitors with a positive view to challenging them in the marketplace? Does it value its employees? Does it engender a desire on the part of its workforce to work harder, be more competitive, and to expend all efforts to the point of excellence? Or, does it act like a wounded animal, fearful of its own shadow, and trying to protect its executive-level benefits and perks?
In professional football, how many times have we seen the team try and protect its 3-point lead for the remainder of the game? What inevitably happens?
Under the National Reassessment Program (the “NRP”), the U.S. Postal Service is attempting to validate a methodical paradigm of cutting its workforce by going after everyone who is less than “fully productive”. By doing so, it has destroyed any sense of corporate unity and company loyalty.
The Postal Worker today who is subject to the NRP is left with limited choices. On the one hand, he or she can accept the determination of the U.S. Postal Service that “no work is available”, and go on to file for benefits under FECA/OWCP. However, the Postal Worker must recognize that OWCP is only a temporary system of monetary compensation. Another avenue which the Postal Worker needs to consider is to file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS or CSRS. While Federal Disability Retirement benefits do not pay as well as OWCP benefits (generally, 60% of the average of one’s highest-3 consecutive years the first year, then 40% every year thereafter, under FERS; a different calculation under CSRS), it provides for one benefit which FECA/OWCP does not: independence and separation from the government entity.
Loyalty is a dying concept. It was a concept which was alive and well when, once upon a time, companies took the long view, looked to the future, to its continuum of growth and prosperity, and sharing that vision of a bright future with its employees. For the essence of loyalty always encapsulated a sense of the long term – of “being in it together” through prosperous times, as well as challenging times. Of course, even during the primacy of the U.S. Postal Service, Federal Disability Retirement benefits were still there for Postal employees (and similarly for all Federal employees) who could no longer perform one or more of the essential elements of one’s job. The interesting thing, of course, is that many Postal employees continued to work at modified jobs offers by the U.S. Postal Service, because of their sense of loyalty and commitment.
Indeed, when the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit rendered its opinion in the case of Bracey v. Office of Personnel Management, 236 F.3d 1356 (Fed. Cir. 2001) — most Postal employees continued to work at their modified jobs, despite being eligible for Federal Disability Retirement benefits. Bracey is still the prevailing case addressing the issue of accommodations for Federal and Postal employees. It stands for the proposition that a Federal or Postal employee is eligible for Federal Disability Retirement benefits even if he or she works in a “light duty”, modified position which may include “an ad hoc set of light duties” and may even continue “to pay the employee at the same level as before.” (Bracey, 236 F.3d 1356, at p.1362). Thus, while some may argue that the primary reason why injured Postal employees continued to work at the U.S. Postal Service was because the jobs were “easy” and that they couldn’t find a better-paying job elsewhere, the truth of the matter is that the vast majority of Postal Workers continued to work under the Rehabilitation Job Offer Guidelines because of an overriding belief that it was a career worth pursuing.
Loyalty was still a paradigm which Postal Workers believed in. With the implementation of the National Reassessment Program, in conjunction with the deep economic recession which the country is undergoing presently, Postal employees should not feel that filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits is an act of “disloyalty”. Loyalty, in order for it to retain its meaningful paradigm, must at its core reflect a bilateral proposition. By initiating and implementing the National Reassessment Program, the U.S. Postal Service has abrogated its core pledge of loyalty. As such, the U.S. Postal Worker is left with a unilateral avenue of loyalty – one which must now be viewed with a singular focus: not upon the best interests of the organization that once was – that competitive entity called the U.S. Postal Service; no, rather, that singular focus must be concentrated upon the best interests of the individual Postal Worker. Federal Disability Retirement is an avenue which allows for independence and a foundation of income; it is something to be considered.
Attorney Robert R. McGill specializes in securing Federal Disability Retirement benefits for Federal and Postal workers under both FERS and CSRS. He represents Federal and Postal employees from all across the United States, from the West Coast to the East, and every state in between, as well as Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Europe, Japan, etc. For more information about his legal services, please visit his OPM Disability Retirement and U.S. Postal Service Disability Retirement websites.
© 2010 PostalReporter.com – This article may not be reproduced without express written consent.
Union Urges Affected Postal Workers To Complete NRP Questionnaire
APWU Web News Article 068-2010, July 15, 2010
To strengthen the fight against the Postal Service’s harsh National Reassessment Program (NRP), the APWU is encouraging limited-duty and permanent-rehabilitation employees to complete a questionnaire sponsored by a law firm that has filed a class-action complaint against the USPS. The complaint alleges that the NRP discriminates against disabled employees.
The NRP, which was initiated nationwide in 2006, “is part of an aggressive campaign by the Postal Service to reduce costs by denying work to injured employees,” said APWU President William Burrus. “The union has fought the program every step of the way,” he said.
The program has wreaked havoc on affected workers, said Human Relations Director Sue Carney. “Thousands of light-duty and permanent-rehabilitation employees have felt its effects through mandatory NRP interviews or work-status meetings.
“Some received new full-day or partial-day job offers; some were told no work was available; others had their existing job offers renewed, while still more have only experienced Phase 1 of the NRP process. Many more are anxiously awaiting a determination,” she said.
USPS Notifies Members of the ‘Class’
An administrative judge for the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) certified the class-action complaint on May 30, 2008, in the case of Sandra McConnell et al v. United States Postal Service [PDF], which alleges that the USPS discriminated against injured workers on the basis of disability when it implemented the NRP. The complaint charges that the NRP fails to provide reasonable accommodation; creates a hostile work environment; wrongfully discloses medical information, and has an adverse impact on disabled workers.
After certifying the case as a “class action,” the judge ordered the Postal Service to notify all potential class members of the complaint. The USPS did so in letters dated July 1, 2010, which it sent to limited-duty and permanent rehabilitation employees. The letter said that workers are members of the class if they “are or were a permanent rehabilitation or limited duty employee of the Postal Service who was subjected to the NRP between May 5, 2006, and the present.”
The APWU encourages all current and former rehab and limited-duty employees who were subjected to any portion of the NRP to complete the questionnaire, whether or not they received a notice from the USPS that they may be members of the “class.” This will help ensure that the attorneys representing the workers are aware of all potential class members — including those that may have been overlooked by the Postal Service, Carney said.
Legal Rights
In accordance with the judge’s order, the USPS letters also notified employees of their legal rights. Potential class members were advised that they are not required to take any action at this time in order to remain a part of the class, or to preserve their right to make a future claim. The notice says that if the administrative judge rules that the Postal Service discriminated against them, they will be notified and given the opportunity to seek any and all remedies provided by law.
The case will determine the rights of class members; any decision will be binding. The EEOC does not allow class members to “opt out” of the class or to choose not to be bound by the decision in the case. If McConnell, the lead complainant, and the USPS choose to settle the case, all class members would be notified of the terms and given an opportunity to object or challenge the settlement.
The parties are currently engaged in the discovery process. Once this process is complete, the administrative judge will set a trial date. The APWU continues to communicate with the lead attorneys and will keep our members apprised of developments as warranted. In the interim, Carney encouraged members to check the NRP Class Action Web site for updates.
Vigorous Protests
In addition to supporting the class-action complaint, the APWU has vigorously protested the program in other forums, she said. “We have filed three Step 4 disputes through the grievance-arbitration procedure , and provided extensive guidance to union members and local and state organizations about how best to fight these attacks.
In addition to pursuing remedies through the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the union has provided information to union members on how to seek justice through OWCP (Office of Workers Compensation), ECAB (Employee Compensation Appeals Board) MSPB (Merit Systems Protection Board), and EEOC, as well as how to file claims for Unemployment Compensation.
FYI: National Reassessment Process EEO Class Action Lawsuit Website
A class action complaint for injured on duty postal employees was certified by an EEOC Administrative Judge (AJ) on May 30,2008.
In the case of (Read article from February 17, 2009) Sandra McConnell, et al. v. United States Postal Service an AJ decision certified the following class:
All permanent rehabilitation employees and limited duty employees at the U.S. Postal Service who have been subjected to the National Reassessment Process (NRP) from May 5, 2006 to present, allegedly in violation of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
The EEO class action charges:
- The NRP fails to provide class members with reasonable accommodations
- The NRP wrongfully discloses the medical information of class members
- The NRP creates a hostile workplace environment for class members
- The NRP has an adverse impact on class members.
The attorneys for Sandra McConnell ..et.al created a website to answer all questions postal employees may have regarding this case. At this website you can find the following:
Background
NRP Class Action: Representing Workers Affected by the USPS National Reassessment Process
McConnell v. U.S. Postal Service, EEOC Case No. 520-2008-00053X
Fill Out the NRP Class Action Questionnaire
The U.S. Postal Service is rolling out the National Reassessment Process (NRP) in USPS districts across nation. The NRP reviews all injured-on-duty employees serving in limited duty and/or rehabilitation positions.
In 2006, Sandra McConnell was reviewed under the NRP in the USPS Western New York District. Ms. McConnell had been working in a rehabilitation modified carrier position for over eight years. However, after the NRP review, Ms. McConnell was stripped of her modified position and ordered to go home with “no work available.”
Ms. McConnell filed a class action discrimination complaint under the Rehabilitation Act on behalf of all USPS workers affected by the NRP. The disability discrimination class action was certified by the EEOC Administrative Judge in 2008. After the USPS appealed that decision, the EEOC again granted certification of the class action in 2010. To view the class certification
notice click here.
What You Should Do
If you are affected by the NRP, you should do the following:
Fill out the NRP Class Action Questionnaire by clicking here
With respect to the claims covered in the class definition, you do not need to do anything now to preserve your right to make a claim later. If you have any claims that may not be covered by the class definition, these claims must be processed by you with an EEO Counselor within 45 days of the action complained of.
Current Status of the Case
The class action was remanded to the EEOC Administrative Judge. The parties are engaging in discovery. After the discovery process is completed, the Administrative Judge will set a date for trial.
Check for updates on the case status here.
Fill Out the NRP Class Action Questionnaire
National Reassessment Process website
MSPB: USPS National Reassessment Process Has Procedural Flaws
John P. Sanchez v. U.S. Postal Service
Appeal Type: Restoration to Duty
Decision Number: 2010 MSPB 121
Issuance Date: June 25, 2010
The appellant is a non-preference eligible Mail Processing Clerk who sustained a work-related injury in 1992, and thereafter worked in a series of limited duty assignments. In 2009, as part of its National Reassessment Process (NRP) Program, the agency reviewed the assignments of those performing limited duty to ensure that they are consistent with employees’ medical restrictions and contain only “operationally necessary tasks.” If a limited duty assignment does not meet these criteria, and if the supervisor or manager is unable to identify operationally necessary tasks available with the employee’s work restrictions, the employee will be sent home until such work becomes available or his medical restrictions change.
In April 2009, the agency issued the appellant a letter stating that, because there was no operationally necessary work within his medical restrictions available at his workplace, he should not report again for duty unless he was informed that such work had become available. The agency later expanded its search for alternative positions beyond his tour of duty and current facility, but still found that none were available. On appeal to the Board, the appellant contended that the agency improperly denied him restoration and failed to accommodate his medical condition, and that he had been constructively suspended.
Under 5 C.F.R. § 353.301(d), agencies must make efforts to restore partially recovered employees “in the local commuting area.” The local commuting area is the geographic area in which an individual lives and can reasonably be expected to travel back and forth daily to his usual duty station. The question of what constitutes a local commuting area is one of fact, which is ordinarily determined by factors such as common practice, the availability and cost of public transportation or the convenience and adequacy of highways, and the travel time required to go to and from work. Because the agency’s search for available work was apparently limited to a single district, whether the agency searched the entire commuting area remains an unanswered question of material fact, which must be explored on remand.
In response to the administrative judge’s order on timeliness, the appellant made unrebutted allegations that he failed to timely file because the agency did not notify him of his Board appeal rights when it discontinued his limited duty assignment. The record corroborates the appellant’s allegation inasmuch as the agency’s notice to the appellant regarding the discontinuation of his limited duty assignment does not provide notice of Board appeal rights. Because the agency was required by regulation to notify the appellant of his Board appeal rights when it discontinued his limited duty assignment, the untimeliness of the appeal may be excused if the agency failed to give the appellant the required notice and the appellant acted diligently in filing his appeal after he actually learned of his appeal rights.
‘National Reassessment Process’ Must Search Entire Commuting Area
MSPB remanded three more USPS cases yesterday, because the Postal Service’s job search under the National Reassessment Process was limited to installations within a single district and failed to include the entire commuting area as required by 5 C.F.R. § 353.301(d). Each decision cited Sanchez v. USPS, 2010 MSPB 121.
Jul 01, 2010 2010 MSPB 124Patricia L. Luna U.S. Postal Service
Jul 01, 2010 2010 MSPB 125 Adelaido Vazquez U.S. Postal Service
Jul 01, 2010 2010 MSPB 126 Lydia T. Chang U.S. Postal Service
APWU: Unemployment Compensation And The National Reassessment Process
Injured employees who undergo the National Reassessment Process (NRP) and are told by the Postal Service either that there is only partial day work available or that there is no work available, should consider filing for unemployment compensation. This temporary financial assistance can serve as an important monetary bridge during the time that an employee is waiting for his or her OWCP compensation to be processed.
This program is formally known as the Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employee’s Program, and is administered by the states under separate agreements with the U.S. Secretary of Labor. A Postal Service employee’s entitlement to this benefit is determined by each state’s employment security laws and varies according to the individual state rules and to the employee’s wage and separation history.
An injured employee whose work hours have been reduced or eliminated by the NRP should ask the Postal Service to provide them with a SF 8, Notice to Former Employee About Unemployment Insurance. Don’t be misled by the phrase “former employee.” The SF 8 is also used for current employees who have had their work hours reduced or eliminated. The complete instructions can be found in Chapter 550, “Unemployment Compensation” in the Employee and Labor Relations Manual.
Health and Resource Management personnel at Postal Service headquarters have assured us that the SF 8 will be made available to injured employees who receive “Partial Day Work” or “Complete Day No Work” letters. However, the employee must ask for the form. It will not be provided automatically.
Injured employees who are provided work only on an intermittent basis are issued an SF 8 only for the first time in each calendar year when they are placed in a non-pay status. However, an SF 8 is issued each time to any employee who is, or will be, placed in a non-pay status for seven or more consecutive calendar days.
To facilitate the processing of a claim for unemployment compensation, an employee should take with them the SF 8; the most recent SF 50, Notification of Personnel Action; Social Security card; W-2 form; and a recent paycheck stub showing earnings and leave balance. Additional information can be found at the Web site of the Department of Labor.
OWCP will pay injured employees wage loss compensation even if they are receiving unemployment compensation. OWCP does not consider this situation to be a prohibited dual payment. However, virtually every state’s unemployment compensation regulations do consider this to be a dual payment, and would expect to be reimbursed for the unemployment compensation that was paid during the same period of time that a person received OWCP wage loss compensation.
Additional information
From the Employee and Labor Relations Manual (ELM)
553.12 SF 8, Notice to Former Employee About Unemployment Insurance
SF 8 explains an employee’s eligibility for unemployment compensation and describes the steps to be taken in filing a claim. Personnel offices complete SF 8 by entering at top of form the employee’s name, Social Security number, and pay location. In item 3 personnel offices enter #732 on the extreme right side and then enter the address of the Eagan ASC:
PAYROLL PROCESSING/UNEMPLOYMENT
USPS EAGAN ASC
2825 LONE OAK PKWY
EAGAN MN 55121–9635
SF 8 is issued promptly to the employee by the separating personnel office so that he or she does not lose unemployment compensation benefits to which he or she may be entitled. An individual whose work or tours of duty are on an intermittent basis is issued an SF 8 only the first time in each calendar year that he or she is placed in a nonpay status. However, a completed SF 8 is issued to an employee each time the employee:
- Separates from the Postal Service for any reason.
- Transfers to another federal agency.
- Is (or will be) placed in a nonpay status for 7 or more consecutive calendar days.
SF 8 is issued on the employee’s last workday. The date is to be noted in the remarks section of PS Form 50.
USPS Statement for Response to Media Inquiries Only Regarding the National Reassessment Process
The non-tax supported U.S. Postal Service views the safety and well being of its employees as its top priority. In situations where employees have been injured on the job, we make every attempt to provide necessary work that meets their physical limitations until they are able to return to their regular work assignment.
These jobs are referred to as limited duty or rehabilitative duty assignments and often involve sorting mail by hand.
Two issues have virtually eliminated these positions — advancements in mail sorting technology and the dramatic decline in mail volume as a result of the downturn in the economy. Mail volume peaked nationwide in 2006 with 212 billion pieces as contrasted with 175 billion pieces in 2009.
The National Reassessment Process (NRP), launched nationwide by the Postal Service in October of 2006, reviews assignments of injured ON THE JOB workers to ensure they are performing duties that fit the operational needs of the U.S. Postal Service. If necessary work is unavailable, employees are advised of their right to file for compensation with the Office of Workers Compensation Programs (OWCP) under the U.S. Department of Labor.
Employees who obtain injury compensation benefits from the OWCP may participate in the OWCP Vocational Rehabilitation program for placement in a new job with other federal agencies or private sector employment.
If NRP affected employees obtain a new non-postal job paying less than what they made at the Postal Service, they receive the difference through the Department of Labor which forwards the cost to the Postal Service.
The decision to pay employee compensation or to participate in the Vocational Rehabilitation program rests with the OWCP.
The U.S. Postal Service has worked closely with the OWCP and the U.S. Department of Labor in administering the NRP.
The NRP matter remains in continuing litigation. To ensure the integrity of that legal process, and in keeping with its employee personnel rules and privacy statutes, the U.S. Postal Service cannot comment on any specific NRP situation or NRP-affected employee.
source: U.S. Postal Service via KCNC TV Denver