OSC: Federal government employers, especially, must do right by our veterans. Image: Jonathan Weiss/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffThe Postal Service has been ordered to reinstate a former letter carrier to employment with seven years of back pay in a case in which the Office of Special Counsel said that the USPS “adamantly refused to comply with the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act.”
The OSC recounted that the employee had been called to active duty by his state Air National Guard following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and that he served continuously on military duty until being honorably discharged in December 2015. During that time, it said, he “regularly provided copies of his orders to USPS, maintained his employment benefits (including making retirement contributions and paying his union dues), and repeatedly expressed his desire to return to his postal job once his service ended.”
The agency “gave him no indication that it would not reemploy him and even sent him letters thanking him for his service and a debit card to purchase his postal uniform,” the OSC added.
However, when he applied for reinstatement in early 2016 the USPS refused, asserting that he had “abandoned” his position, it said. He filed a complaint under USERRA with the Labor Department, which then referred the case to the OSC, which then filed a complaint on his behalf before the MSPB.
In early 2019 a hearing officer ruled in his favor and ordered the USPS to provide interim relief if it appealed that decision to the MSPB board, but while the USPS did file an appeal it did not provide the relief, the OSC said. Because the MSPB board did not have enough members to issue decisions on appeals during that time, the USPS “seemingly exploited the Board’s lack of a quorum in an attempt to delay justice” and the individual “had to find a new job, which provided much lower pay and benefits than his USPS employment.”
The OSC said it intends to get him “everything he is owed, no matter how long it takes. Federal government employers, especially, must do right by our veterans.”
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