USPS Employees EEO

The United States Postal Service (USPS or Postal Service) employed around 516,000 people in 2021. Postal Service employees work in a variety of jobs such as mail carrier, clerk, mechanic and many others. Those employees are considered federal employees for the purposes of employment discrimination laws, which make it unlawful to discriminate against postal employees, or applicants for employment, on the basis of: race, color, religion, genetic information, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity, including transgender status), age (40 years and older), physical or mental disability. This prohibition against discrimination includes harassment for any of those same reasons. It also prohibits retaliation (called “reprisal” in the federal sector) against an employee or applicant who has been involved in a protected activity related to those laws.

A postal service employee who feels that they have been discriminated against or harassed, for the above reasons or subjected to retaliation for a related reasons must file an EEO and then to pursue that EEO as required by the procedures provided under federal law and regulations. Generally, that process begins (1) with an informal EEO filing (filed online with the postal service), (2) a meeting with an EEO counselor, (3) an offer of mediation (called REDRESS for postal employees), (4) moving the EEO to the formal stage if not resolved at mediation, (5) a formal investigation which last several months and (6) ends with the issuance of the Report Of Investigation (ROI) to the employee along with a notice of rights to further pursue the matter. At that point, the best advice usually is to file a request for an EEOC hearing within 30 days of the notice.

You can learn more in this postal service publication:

Do not let the word “hearing” trick you into believing that the matter is simple or fast. It is neither.  The best way to describe it is as a lawsuit that ends with a trial by a judge, but no jury.  Basically, the process is the same as any lawsuit in a federal court. There will be a discovery period in which the parties will serve formal discovery requests on each other. Those can include interrogatories, document requests, and requests for admission. There will be strict time limits for responding under oath and punishment for refusing to respond or not correctly responding. There will be the option (which almost always needs to be taken by the federal employee!) to take deposition of crucial witnesses, managers, HR employees and others who may be hostile to the employee. There will also be motions of various types including, in almost every case, a Motion for a Decision Without a Hearing, which is also called a Motion for Summary Judgment. If that motion is granted to the agency, the case is over and the employee will not go to a hearing.

You need an experienced federal employee attorney to represent you in this proceeding.

Kirk J. Angel, The Federal Employee Attorney ™, has been representing federal employees for a decade now. He brings substantial experience with him from the courtroom and 25 year of litigation. Attorney Angel was an EEOC Trial Attorney and currently represents federal employees in EEO processing and in hearings before the EEOC and MSPB. If you are a federal or postal employee who is facing discrimination, harassment, retaliation/reprisal or if you are facing an EEOC hearing, do not delay and set a consultation with him today.