Postal Nurses

In a 1993 an arbitration to determine whether or not the Postal Service could eliminate the Professional Nurse position. The Postal Service argued that they were not in the medical business and attempted to get rid of all Postal Nurses. Arbitrator Gershenfeld ruled that the Postal Service was not in the medical business. However, Gershenfeld demanded that the Postal Service retain 51 health units across the country to provide care to employees.

In 2007 an interest arbitration with arbitrator Goldberg was conducted to determine whether or not the MOU embodying the 1993 Gershenfeld Award preserving the 51 health units should be carried forward into the 2007 Agreement. The panel concluded that the Postal Service was not bound to the award and could close all clinical operations if they so choose.

The Postal Service concluded that there was a need for medical personnel, but that they would not be performing clinical duties. Thus, the parties redefined the position descriptions and the duties to responsibilities outside of the clinical care setting.  

Duties performed by the Occupational Health Nurses are now: Absence management, Return to Work, Fitness for duties/Threat Assessment reviews, FMLA review, Transitional duty review, DRAC committee, Ergonomic programs, Serious accident reports, assists in eMAP, schedule drug screenings, schedules DOT physicals, light duty tracking, assists in immunization programs, and administers district health fairs.  

You can find information about pay here.