PostalReporter.com Blog

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reverses previous decision in Harrell vs. USPS - USPS required employees who had taken leave for more than 21 days to submit much more information than a doctor’s note in order to return to work. Rodney Harrell refused to provide the detailed information requested (such as the nature and treatment of his illness and any medicines he was taking), and was ultimately terminated.

The  Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals initially decided this case July 19, 2005 (Rodney Harrell v. USPS; U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ). However, USPS on Sept. 6 in the U.S. Court of Appeals filed a petition seeking to overturn the court’s decision that ” invalidated its return-to-work requirements for employees with absences of more than 21 days.” USPS requested “reconsideration and rehearing before the full Seventh Circuit Court, contending that a three-judge panel ‘erred’ in its July 19, 2005 decision overturning a Postal Service return-to-work policy. (see APWU: USPS Seeks to Thwart Landmark FMLA Ruling)

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals re-addressed the issue of return to work provisions [ELM 865.1 ]following a FMLA protected absence of 21 days or more. USPS argued (with support from Dept. of Labor) that “any return-to work certification requirements included in a collective bargaining agreement take precedence over the FMLA’s return-to-work provisions: (Under the FMLA, one section of the statute states that the law was not meant to supercede state or local laws or collective bargaining agreements).

  a uniformly applied practice or policy that requires each employee to receive certification from the health care provider of the employee that the employee is able to resume work, except that nothing in this paragraph shall supersede a valid State or local law or a collective bargaining agreement that governs the return to work of such employees.

DOL in a memorandum to the court wrote: “if return-to-work medical certification and fitness-for-duty examination provisions in the [employer’s] handbook and manual are a part of the CBA .  ., then these provisions would apply instead of FMLA’s return-to-work certification requirements.”

The court affirmed the district’s court ruling that USPS could impose stricter return-to-work provisions than those in FMLA.  (more…)

(Associated Press) A U.S. Postal Service worker was arrested Saturday in a bomb threat that forced police to evacuate two charter buses and close the Capital Beltway for 90 minutes, authorities said.

A woman called a passenger aboard one of two charter buses carrying postal workers from Merrifield, Va., to Atlantic City, N.J., and said there was a bomb aboard, said Sgt. Russell Newell, a Maryland State Police spokesman.

Police stopped both buses in Silver Spring, searched them and found nothing dangerous, Newell said. The highway was closed from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. for the investigation. Passengers continued their trip about three hours later.

Investigators traced the call to the U.S. Postal Service center in Merrifield, and postal inspectors arrested a female employee, Newell said. Charges are pending against the woman, whose name was not released

source: AP via Yahoo News

(e-NAPUS Legislative Bulletin) “Within hours of the USPS Board of Governors filing its 2006 Postal Rate adjustment with the Postal Rate Commission, members of the postal galaxy issued statements decrying the magnitude of the adjustment and indicating that such a case was the primary reason for enacting postal reform legislation.

The postage change would increase the average rate by 8.5% and would raise the cost of mailing a 1 ounce letter by 3 cents. The rate case trails in the wake of the January 5.4% increase. Mailers fear an additional 2007 rate case.

A number of points should be acknowledged by those who knee-jerked criticism of the proposal. First, the 5.4% January increase was a direct result of the failure of the Congress and the White House to eliminate the unfair legislatively mandated CSRS escrow fund – not an increase in USPS operating costs. On this issue, mailer complaints would be far more effective and constructive if they were directed against those who are thwarting the elimination of the escrow fund.

It would appear that the burden to push the House Leadership to appoint conferees falls on corporate mailers since, in the short-term, they have the most at stake. Meanwhile, NAPUS continues to assist likely House confereesand designated Senate conferees to more fully understand the conference issues that will be most important to U.S. Postmasters.”

more from the National Association of Postmasters of the United States (PDF)

PR note: Mailer groups are concerned about the proposed double-digit rate increase. According to Advertising Age:

 The Postal Service is seeking to boost rates as much as 11.4% on magazines and 24.2% on newspapers (though the increase for out-of-county rates, which is the most widely used newspaper rate, would be 11.2%); mailers of CDs and samples could also face big hikes.

In 2000, the Postal Service proposed a 15 per cent rate increase for mailers (it was reduced to single-digits). A $10 million dollar lobby fight headed by Magazine Publishers of America over the proposed double-digit rates was in the news earlier this year. see articles

“Although two jobs were lost in February, the prospect of the Pikeville Post Office losing 13 additional jobs is not looking very likely.

Mark Hulme, the Manager of Operations and Program Support for the US Postal Service, said for the time being, he doesn’t foresee the need to transfer any workers, despite all of the changes that have been made.

One of those changes is that the Pikeville office lost a letter-sorting automation machine to Lexington, according to Pikeville’s Postmaster Darrell Rose.

Rose said the office lost two jobs in February because the machine was moved to Lexington, and since the machines were gone, there was no longer the need for the machine operators.”

more from Appalachian News-Express 

Chicago Tribune metro columnist Eric Zorn reports that he suggested a ‘forever stamp’ back in 1994. On May 4, 2006 Zorn writes:

More than 11 years too late, the Postal Service bows to my superior wisdom

Today’s news, “Postal service proposes `forever’ stamps” finally validates a column I published on December 27, 1994:

My proposed solution is for the Postal Service to sell stamps marked simply “first class” for the going first-class rate. Such stamps would be good forever on any letter weighing up to one ounce, and, when used in combination with other stamps on heavier mail, good for the first-class rate at time of use.

more from the Chicago Tribune

Postal Rate Commissioner Ruth Y. Goldway also brought up the issue of USPS implementing a ‘forever stamp’ in a New York Times article last year. Some pundits have reported that implementing a ‘forever’ stamp may not receive much resistance from the Postal Rate Commission. Anyway, in November 2005 Goldway wrote:

LAST week my colleagues and I on the Postal Rate Commission recommended approval of the United States Postal Service’s request to raise the price of a first-class stamp to 39 cents from 37 cents, as part of a 5.4 percent overall rate increase, sometime early next year.

The negotiations during the rate review process yielded a promising development, one that’s worth highlighting. The Postal Service promised the commission’s Office of Consumer Advocate that it would immediately begin studying the idea of adopting “forever” or “perpetual” stamps.

What’s a “forever stamp”? It’s just what you think it would be: a stamp that could always be used for the first ounce of first-class postage - that is, most letters mailed by individuals.

It would be sold at the current price of a first-class stamp but would be good for first-class letter postage indefinitely.

Sound far-fetched? Well, 30 nations, including Britain, Finland, Israel, Belgium and Brazil, have used this kind of stamp. And the stamps make sense. (more…)

(American Postal Workers Union) At the urging of the APWU, 19 members of Congress whose constituents would be affected by USPS “network realignment” plans expressed concern about the program in a May 1, 2006, letter to U.S. Comptroller General David M. Walker. The congressmen reiterated complaints lodged in March by the chairmen and ranking minority members of Senate and House committees with jurisdiction over postal matters, and by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA).

The letter [PDF] urged the GAO to follow up on its 2005 report on the USPS realignment strategy, which the agency concluded, “lacks sufficient transparency and accountability, excludes stakeholder input, and lacks performance measures for results.”

“Although GAO recommended that USPS improve its efforts to keep stakeholders informed,” the letter continued, “our communities affected by current plans to consolidate mail processing plants have told us that they have not been adequately informed about the Postal Service’s plans, the extent to which the Postal Service proposed to analyze plant performance and make realignment decisions, or the potential impacts on these communities.”

The Postal Service began implementing the Evolutionary Network Development (END) plan in the fall of 2005, when it announced the consolidation of “some operations” at 10 facilities. In the seven months since then, management has announced approximately 40 additional consolidation “feasibility studies.”

“While USPS may contend that the Area Mail Processing (AMP) study adequately responds to these recommendations,” the representatives wrote, “we continue to have concerns over the AMP study process as a tool to determine the feasibility of consolidation and its ability to make transparent the effects on mail delivery, cost-savings, and concerns of stakeholders.”

(more…)

(Press Release) — The U.S. Postal Service is making it
easy now for retailers and customers shipping footwear to “strut their stuff” this summer, with the introduction of a new Priority Mail Shoe Box that will accommodate almost any brand and size shoe.

Designed to meet the needs of footwear and clothing retailers, along with direct-to-customer businesses, the new Priority Mail box allows shippers to simply slide in a boxed pair of shoes for easy shipping. The box measures 7-1/2 inches by 5-1/8 inches by 14-3/8 inches, is self sealing, and — as with all Priority Mail packaging — is available at no additional cost to Priority Mail shippers.

The new box also is convenient for anyone who needs to mail shoes as a gift or for repair. And, for the ultimate in convenience and ease of use, customers can use Click-N-Ship — offered online through USPS.com — to print a shipping label with postage and use Carrier Pickup online notification to let their local Post Office know their package is ready for pickup when their letter carrier delivers their mail the following day.

 ”Consumers are purchasing more clothing, shoes, and accessories than ever through the mail, and shoes are one of the hottest growing items in this category,” says Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Anita Bizzotto. “This packaging offers a quick, easy, and convenient solution for our customers in an important and growing market segment. With  the Priority Mail Shoe Box, one size does fit all.”

The new Priority Mail Shoe Box is available online at
http://www.usps.com/shippingsupplies in packs of 10, or — for larger orders — by calling 1-800-610-8734.

source: USPS

“A public hearing will take place in Aberdeen to discuss Hub City postal matters, according to South Dakota’s congressional delegation. The delegation said in a press release that its request for such a hearing has been granted. No date has been set for the meeting. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Service said a meeting is being discussed, but could offer no further details. She was away from her office Wednesday. The U.S. Postal Service has conducted two studies of postal service in the Aberdeen area. It wants to determine whether it would be more efficient to do some mail processing now done in Aberdeen at a larger facility in Huron.”  more from American News

In a press release issued by the South Dakota Delegation, Representative Stephanie Herseth (D-SD) said:

Changes to a basic and critical service like mail delivery should not be made without proper input from those most directly affected. While I believe that a public hearing should have been one of the first priorities for the USPS, I am pleased they have agreed to our request.

Full Press Release

Delegation Announces Public Hearing to be Conducted on Aberdeen Post Office Services (more…)