Step 4 Settled on PSE Separation Issue

On November 17, 2025, APWU Clerk Division Director Lamont Brooks reached an agreement with the Postal Service regarding past separations of Postal Support Employees (PSEs) for alleged “lack of work”. The settlement applies to Clerk Craft PSEs who were separated between May 6, 2022, through the date of the signing of this agreement, if management used the excuse of lack of work for the separation.

This dispute was initiated due to the Postal Service’s misinterpretation, in several offices throughout the country, of the provisions of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) concerning PSE cap violation provisions. The Step 4 settlement references a prior 2014 agreement that stated, “PSEs shall not be terminated in order to come into compliance with the specific cap requirements.”

The Step 4 settlement provides local unions with the opportunity to “demonstrate there was adequate work available for any, or all, of the separated PSEs” and further states, “the PSEs will be permitted to seek reinstatement at the local level, if they have not already done so, and will be reinstated retroactively and made whole.”

Local unions will be provided a copy of each reinstatement letter and a copy of this settlement. These documents will be mailed to the affected separated PSEs at their last known address. It will allow separated PSEs to “fully understand their options.”

“This dispute repairs the damage done to PSEs who were improperly separated as a result of the Postal Service’s violation of our CBA. Our local unions must step forward once they receive notification of the affected PSEs in their representational area and do their part to assist them in returning to postal employment,” Director Brooks explained.

Copies of the November 17, 2025, Step 4 settlement and the referenced October 3, 2014, settlement agreement are included with this article.