Illegal "Institutional Bias" at Postal Service toward Democrats, Clinton

A report from the Office of Special Counsel has concluded that the United States Postal Service "improperly coordinated" with a postal workers union that supported Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Employees were allowed to do union-funded work for Clinton and other Democratic candidates while on leave from the Postal Service.

According to the OSC, the USPS "engaged in systemic violations" of the Hatch Act, which limits certain political activities of federal employees. For years, high-ranking postal officials had granted employees’ requests for unpaid leave to do some political work, which is allowed. But the OSC report found an “institutional bias” in favor of Clinton and other Democrats who were endorsed by the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC).

The union would pay the employees out of its political fund during their time off.

At a hearing, Adam Miles, acting director of the OSC, told Senate lawmakers, "The culture and practice was, ‘It’s mandatory, it’s the directive’ " to ensure employees got time off.

As explained by Miles, and the report, the NALC would provide a list of letter carriers to USPS headquarters, asking that those workers be allowed to take some unpaid leave to participate in political activities. A senior USPS labor relations official would then email the lists to USPS officials around the country. Miles said the local USPS officials "interpreted the communications as directives" to release the carriers on official union unpaid leave.

"Characterizing this political activity as union business conferred a special status on carriers’ leave requests," the report found.

The OSC report came in response to a request from Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI), who said the issue was brought to his attention by constituent Timm Kopp, a letter carrier. Kopp, who also spoke at the hearing, said he and other USPS employees had to work overtime to cover for those away on political work.

The report said the practice has been going on for years, perhaps as far back as the 1990s.

At the hearing, Postmaster General Megan Brennan tried to assure lawmakers that the USPS took the report’s finding seriously, and is working to ensure the mistakes aren’t repeated.

"We will change our practice in consultation with the OSC and based upon OSC’s guidance," Brennan said. “This will ensure that we do not put our people in harm's way and they do not unintentionally run afoul of the Hatch Act.”

She continued, "The Postal Service has always been ready, willing and able to end or modify our practice as appropriate, consistent with OSC’s recommendation."

The report said that the OSC will not seek individual punishments for violation of the Hatch Act. However, it advises the USPS to take corrective measures moving forward, including implementing a "hands off" approach to a union’s political activity and no longer considering political activity as a reason for official union leave.

The NALC posted a message on its website that it would "submit a statement for the record to address the legitimacy and accuracy of some of the data and statements from the investigation and the hearing."

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— Josh Herman

(Photo Credit: Jason Lawrence via Flickr / Creative Commons)