Postal Retirees May be Affected by OPM Data Breach

Postal retirees may be among those affected by a breach in the computer system of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Retirees Department Director Judy Beard reports. OPM announced June 4 that the records of 4 million current and former federal employees were compromised in a cyber attack the agency discovered in April.

Beginning June 8 and continuing through June 19, OPM will notify current and former employees via email that their records may have been compromised. Retirees whose email addresses are not on file with OPM will be contacted by mail.

Those affected will be offered credit monitoring for a period of 18 months, OPM said. The union encourages retirees to take advantage of the free credit-monitoring service.

For additional information, visit www.opm.gov, or call 844-222-2743.                                           

“The APWU will pursue this intrusion to our members’ personal data to ensure they are fully protected under the law,” Beard said. The union is inquiring about the extent of the cyber attack as it relates to APWU retirees, she added.

“The APWU is committed to protecting the rights of our members, including the right to protect their personal information,” President Mark Dimondstein said.

The APWU and the other postal unions recently won the right to bargain with the Postal Service over a massive USPS data security breach that took place in 2014. The precedent-setting agreement was approved by the National Labor Relations Board.

For additional information from the Federal Trade Commission about how to respond to the OPM data breach, click here.

For additional information about how to protect yourself in the event of identity theft, click here.