Update on $56 Million Settlement

Information provided by the Postal Service reveals numerous management errors in the initial payment of a $56 million settlement to employees in small offices, Clerk Craft Director Clint Burelson has announced.

Following discussions between the union and management, the Postal Service wrote in a Jan. 29 email, “We will be working diligently over the next few days to correct errors and resubmit for payment.”

To determine the payments due to employees after the December 2014 settlement was reached, the Postal Service provided the union with the names of the impacted employees and the number of hours they worked, using their Social Security numbers as the key identifier, Burelson explained.

The APWU then provided the Postal Service with the proper payment amount for each employee, based on a formula that took into account the amount of time employees worked in affected Level 15, 16 and 18 offices.

However, in many cases, in submitting the names for payment, the Postal Service’s Labor Relations Department apparently entered the wrong Employee Identification Numbers (EINs). This was the cause of most of the incorrect payments. 

“There were numerous errors with EIN's which will only come to light through feedback from employees and the APWU,” management wrote in the Jan. 29, 2016, email. The APWU has the EINs on file for employees and retirees and Assistant Director Lamont Brooks is working with the Postal Service to fix the problems, Burelson said.

The Postal Service made some corrections in checks issued Jan. 29, and has indicated that management will continue to make corrections until all employees are paid the proper amount.