The Thanksgiving Ambush
Oakland Postal management hit injured employees with “shock and awe” tactics better suited to the battlefield. Starting a few days before Thanksgiving of 2009, management started to place injured on duty employees off duty. The expected Phase 2 interviews never took place: employees were called aside, allowed to clean out their lockers, and told to
leave the building.
The departures have continued into April 2010. Injured employees have been left wondering if they will be next, and even bystanders are often disturbed by the sight of co-workers forced to do the perp walk just for having been injured on the job. The procedure was heavily scripted, designed to leave no room for negotiation.
Oakland injured employees had been forewarned and offered coaching by local officers and by Western Regional Coordinator Omar Gonzalez. A series of workshops given by the Oakland Local last summer outlined the history of the NRP and suggested ways to contest actions taken under the program, from filing grievances and EEO complaints to appealing to the MSPB. All of the members that have been placed in a non work status have remained in contact with the local and have received assistance with paperwork. Most of the employees are receiving compensation from OWCP or unemployment benetits from EDD. Thirty of the local’s grievances that were appealed to Step 3 regarding the NRP ambush have been remand to Step 2 pending adjustication of a national grievance that is not applicable to our cases. President Jacobs has ask APWU Headquarters to rescind the remand settlement and have the cases appealed to arbitration.
source: Fred Jacobs, Oakland APWU President
I am a retired Postal worker! I had a few workers comp claims over the years. My first the management managed to lose my write up of how the injury occurred. Without this OWCP could not approove my workers comp. I talked to the manager at the workers comp office, and he told me that many times the Postal managers have missing paperwork, and lie in the claim.
The way to defeat the managers on this is to keep copies of all of the paperwork, and as soon as you have your OWCP claim number submit a copy to OWCP. This way the OWCP claims process will have the truth, not the truth as the Postal Management see’s it!
Your unions have to follow the rules. Those rules state that they must first follow the greivance arbitration procedure. Then if that method does not work they can take it to court. This is not to say that you can not get a lawyer and take them to court and ask for a class action against the P{ostal Service. When you file a class action against the Postal service usually, but not always the union no longer handles your case.
There is a case in Colorado right now Cyancar vs The USPS! This case is for violation of Americans with Disabilities, and FMLA. This case presently has 42,000 respondants.
Even though most attorney’s do not agree, have them add the individual Postal Managers to Law Suit. These Managers will have to hire their own attorney’s, and will have to represent themselves. The law states that the government attorney’s can not represent individuals. This forces the mangers to face up to their own misdeeds!
You’re one of the lucky ones!.. But you’re still under the NRP and as long as you have restrictions you are NOT SAFE! What they giveth they to shall takeith.. You should know by now nothing that management offers as a job is A PERMANENT JOB OFFER!! right? All of our last modified job offers were supposed to be PERMANENT, you see where that ended up!
Yes you can use your sick leave, my sister did! She is still waiting for OWCP to figure out what is going on with her claim, and if they even want to pay for the Dr. appts. This has been since early Feb and still don’t know nothing. but after she used up all of her sick leave she went and filed for unemployment and GOT it so you might want to do that first! but you have to say you are looking for a job! when you fill out the paper work even though you still are employed with the USPS. I think this is BULLSHIT that they are jerking injured employees around,and letting the NON ON THE JOB INJURED EMPLOYEES KEEP THEIR JOB! AND DON’t EVEN START ON THEM SKIPPING INJURED MANAGEMENT!! I hope she gets her job back and they have to give her back her sick leave.. Almost everyone that has been walked out or had their hours reduced has NOT been paid by OWCP!! I say use your sick leave and collect unemployment for as long as you can hell you been paying into it long enough, DON’T YOU THINK? anyway GOOD LUCK!!
What if I want to use my sick leave and retire after it is gone? I have 36 years in tomorrow and am tired of the bs.
1.S. Tengler
They are making me a window clerk from a carrier after 5 years.
1.S. Tengler,
if they walk you out then DOL pays your wages.
I believe I am now in the path of NRP also. Does anyone know absolutely that after you are informed that the work you’ve been doing for years is not really work, after you are walked out, are you able to use your sick leave until it runs out?
Trying to plan for the worst.
Jack Potter and our unions know what’s best for our injured employee’s.
Our unions could file a class action complaint in the proper district court, but they don’t want to.
Ask your union why it hasn’t gone to court? Cause they don’t want to.
Only a proper court order can help us in about one day. It’s called a” preliminary injunction”
U.S. CODE, TITLE 29 Chapter 6, § 109. Granting of restraining order or injunction as dependent on previous findings of fact; limitation on prohibitions included in restraining orders and injunction
No restraining order or temporary or permanent injunction shall be granted in a case involving or growing out of a labor dispute, except on the basis of findings of fact made and filed by the court in the record of the case prior to the issuance of such restraining order or injunction; and every restraining order or injunction granted in a case involving or growing out of a labor dispute shall include only a prohibition of such specific act or acts as may be expressly complained of in the bill of complaint or petition filed in such case and as shall be expressly included in said findings of fact made and filed by the court as provided in this chapter.
Why do they get to keep their job when they are also injured employees? and then went into MANAGEMENT.. We were told you have to be able to go back to your job you were doing when you were injured. I guess this RULE DON”T APPLY TO MANAGEMENT! This is a bunch of BULLSHIT!!! This is all coming down from HEADQUARTERS PMG POTTERS OFFICE to save $$$$$$$$ WHY don’t he STOP ADDING to the many layers of MANAGEMENT that we don’t need they DON”T WORK the mail (just kiss his ass) they say we have NO WORK FOR YOU! didn’t they take us out of a job we were working when they took us for our meeting (s0 called) to throw us out of the building!! Is it me or is there something wrong with this picture? Why do they keep letting those who were NOT injured @ work keep their job? This is so ILLEGIAL I don’t know ho they can sleep at night, they act like they care, bullshit, and they are LYING almost nobody is getting PAID from OWCP!! it’s been since early Feb and about 90% haven’t been paid.. The USPS needs to throw PMG POTTER OUT!! He’s the biggest part of the problem I don’t know if the people who were thrown out of their Job like last weeks trash will ever get their jobs back, I know most of the injured employees worked even thought our co-workers talked shit.. still do! but if I can work hurt you can work LAZY!!! As for how they are favoring management and their little kiss ass CRAFT EMPLOYEES who ALSO GOT SKIPED IN THIS NRP CRAP!! ERRP NEEDS YOU TO BE FITTED FOR YOUR NEW KNEE PADS!! YOU WORE THEM OUT!!!
j.jameson you are absolutely wright,not only management is never held accountable, but they get promoted and move on to a better position
The Postal Service is clearly out of control. The decision to fire injured employees should be tracked to the person responsible, and he oe she should be fired. This is another demonstration of the lack of oversight and accountability that the Postal Service lords over it’s employees. Regardless of what outrageous decision they come down with, nobody in management is EVER held accountable.