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(This article was first published in the January/February 2005 issue of the American Postal Worker magazine.)

USPS Found in Violation of Rehab Act

Greg Bell, Director
Industrial Relations

A clerk who had been receiving Office of Workers' Compensation Program benefits and was subsequently separated from the Postal Service has been awarded a favorable court ruling that says the USPS violated the Rehabilitation Act by failing to engage in an “interactive process” to determine whether a reasonable accommodation existed for her.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois ordered that the employee be awarded damages equal to the OWCP payments she was denied. She had sought her full salary for the time between the date her OWCP benefits were cut off and the time her doctor first informed the Postal Service she was totally and permanently disabled. But the court relied on evidence that the employee failed to file an Equal Employment Opportunity claim until after her OWCP benefits were cut off.

The employee worked as a Markup Clerk at the Computer Forwarding System unit of the North Suburban (IL) facility. In April 1992, OWCP accepted the claim that her condition of allergic rhino conjunctivitis was an on-the-job illness, and the USPS Medical Department ordered that she be placed in a “temporary light duty assignment” in a “dust-free area.”

After being transferred to a newly built facility in Palatine , IL , she suffered a serious allergic attack while working. Following a fitness–for-duty examination, the Postal Service's physician determined that the clerk needed to be “transferred to an office environment free of dust mites and irritants that may exacerbate her symptoms, ideally out of Central Markup Unit.”

On OWCP Leave

From 1993 to 1997, while the Postal Service made few efforts to return her to employment, the clerk received OWCP benefits and remained in an OWCP leave status. In August 1997, the USPS finally issued the employee a limited duty job offer to return her to work, directing her to report to the Palatine facility in the same position she had previously held, as a Markup Clerk.

A clean-air machine was installed near her work station, but the employee rejected the offer after her doctor said that the machine would not adequately accommodate her condition. The Postal Service made no further attempts at finding light-duty work for her, and in 2000, OWCP determined she was not disabled and terminated her benefits. Although the employee did not return to work, the Postal Service allowed her to continue on unpaid leave for a little more than a year. Finally, she received a notice of separation.

The court found that the employee had established that she was disabled and that she had established that she was qualified to perform the essential functions of her job as long as reasonable accommodations were made. Moreover, the court determined that “no reasonable jury could conclude that USPS's [1997] Palatine job offer qualified as a ‘reasonable accommodation.'” To support this conclusion, the ruling noted that the Postal Service permitted the employee “to remain on disability,” which “amounts to a near confession by USPS itself that the job offer did not adequately accommodate [the employee's] medical problems.”

A Failure to Interact

Instead of engaging in an “interactive process” to properly inform the employee of her options for reasonable accommodation, the Postal Service, according to the court, “did nothing for three years.” It finally responded “only be re-offering her the rejected unacceptable Palatine position – then placing her on unpaid leave for sixteen months” before terminating her.

“Clearly, unpaid medical leave does not meet the USPS burden of engaging in an interactive process, or providing reasonable accommodation,” the court said.

In its summation, the court ruled that the Postal Service violated the Rehabilitation Act by failing to accommodate the employee's disability between the period of July 15, 2000 and March 5, 2001 .

“The Postal Service slept through nearly eight years” while the employee received OWCP benefits on a full-time basis, the court ruling said, and “once awakened from its slumber, the Postal Service's sole action was so woefully inadequate to suggest a total lack of effort on their part to comply with the statutory requirements of the Rehabilitation Act.” (Sutton v. Potter, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, Case No. 02 C 2702, 3/19/2004 )

Thanks

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank those members who participated in the APWU election, with special thanks to local and state leaders, officers, stewards, and members for your support in my re-election as your national Industrial Relations Director.

I have always believed that without struggle there is no progress. I will continue to work hard to enforce the contract, improve members' working conditions and benefits, and protect the rights of postal workers. I look forward to facing the challenges ahead. I will continue to work with and provide assistance to stewards and officers around the country, and initiate policies and programs that provide greater assistance and support to local unions.

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