With almost half a million employees and another hundred thousand or more non-career employees, the U.S. Postal Service is constantly being asked to take on more of the nation’s massive mail-transport efforts, with fewer employees, tools and equipment to work with.  The burden is always placed upon the worker; and the language applied to assuage the image never considers the needs of the worker; and in the end, the United States will pay the price of diminishing returns by lowering the standards of acceptability.

Once upon a time, the U.S Postal Service was the envy of the world.  From the public’s standpoint:  Efficient; reliable; a joy to encounter the mail carrier who always responded with a waive and a smile; and with reasonable costs for such excellent service.  From the Postal employee’s perspective:  While blue collar jobs in the private sector were being shipped overseas in massive transfers of wealth, the U.S. Postal Service was an attractive employer where satisfying work with attractive benefits and a generous retirement system promised a living wage and a fulfilling career.  And from the Postal Service’s vantage point:  Efficiency was its talking point; looking out for its employees was the standard; and support for its workers was always paramount, including their health, safety and welfare.  All of that — of all 3 perspectives — has changed.

The reality today is that “excellence” is no longer the standard.  Rather, it is the “business model”, of “surviving into the 21st century”, of getting more out of each worker for less; of persuading the public to accept something — very much of something — less than excellence.  The maneuver was analogous to the visit to the doctor’s office — you know, of the ploy where you are first asked to “check in” at the receptionist’s desk, then made to wait for 20 minutes beyond the appointment time; then, you are brought into a room where you are left to vegetate for another 20 minutes; then, a nurse comes in, looks over your chart in a cursory manner, takes your blood pressure, then tells you that the doctor will be in “momentarily” — and another 20 minute wait.  By then, you have been waiting for well over an hour, but psychologists know that a patient’s patience runs in 20-minute increments, and so long as something is seemingly progressing before the expiration of the 20-minute timeframe, it will be acceptable.

That’s what happened with the U.S. Postal Service.  Slowly, incrementally, we have been asked to accept longer and longer delays; of half-days on Saturdays; now, the proposal to do away with Saturday Postal Service altogether, when in fact that is often the only day where busy people can even go and use the Postal Service; and of greater wait-times for first class delivery; of Priority Mail extended by double or triple the delivery time; of Express Overnight Mail, despite the higher cost, often taking 2, sometimes 3 days to get to the intended destination; of “tracking” which is meaningless because, if it shows that there is no movement of the piece of mail or has become stuck at some processing facility, nothing can be done about it, anyway.  No one any longer demands excellence; rather, the Postal Service, Congress and the Executive Branch have been changing the goalposts for years, and the public must accept less than excellence.

For the employees of the U.S. Postal Service, the future will likely see greater stress, more injuries, and greater numbers of employees filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits.  The stress is palpable if you access the services of the U.S. Postal Service.  The longer lines; the greater demands upon a skeletal staff already demoralized by an impatient and uncivil public; and by frustrations expressed openly and directed towards the employees of the U.S. Postal Service.  And the effects of the recent and ongoing pandemic has not helped, but rather, has exacerbated the frustrations manifested.

Federal Disability Retirement is an option always open to Postal employees who are injured or otherwise suffer from a medical condition while working as a FERS employee.  The medical condition does not have to be an “on-the-job” injury, and is therefore distinctively different — both in terms of causation (the medical condition can occur outside of the job, on weekends, on vacation, without any relationship to the job at all, etc.) and in terms of benefits.

The following is a brief synopsis of the three different benefits which the Postal employee can access in the event of a medical condition or injury:

• OWCP Benefits: Filed through the Department of Labor, this benefit is available where it can be shown that an injury or medical condition occurred while on the job or otherwise caused by the job.  It is not meant to be a “lifetime” benefit but, rather, benefits are usually paid during the time of recovery and rehabilitation, with the ultimate intent and goal of returning you to work.  Where appropriate, some sort of vocational rehabilitation or retraining for another job may be offered.
• Social Security Disability benefits — filed through the Social Security Administration, Office of Disability Insurance, the standard to qualify for this benefit is much higher than filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS.  As part of filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS, however, you must at some point file for Social Security Disability benefits, and attach a receipt to the FERS Disability Retirement application showing that you filed.  Social Security has a higher standard of “total disability”, and has a lower threshold of income restrictions.
• Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS — the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS): To qualify, at a minimum, an individual must have at least 18 months of Federal Service.  You must show that you have a medical condition which prevents you from performing one or more of the essential elements of your position of record, and that your medical condition will last a minimum of 12 months (which can be shown via a doctor’s prognosis — meaning that, you do not actually have to wait 12 months before filing).  The annuity pays a benefit of 60% of the average of your highest-3 (36 consecutive months) years of pay for the first year, then 40% every year thereafter until you reach the age of 62.  At 62, the annuity will be recalculated based upon the total number of years of service accrued, including any military buy-back time, the years prior to obtaining your disability retirement, as well as — and here is the greater advantage, because you are actually “building” upon your retirement by remaining on Federal Disability Retirement — the time that you are on the disability retirement rolls.  Thus, the advantage over OWCP is multiple:  Yes, OWCP’s Temporary Total Disability (TTD) payments almost always pay more, but the time you are on OWCP does not count towards your final retirement calculations.  It is thus a short-term gain (more pay) but a long-term disadvantage (it is not a retirement system, but a system intended to return you back to work and, furthermore, does not count towards your final accrual of time-in-Federal-Service).

Over the recent decades, the U.S. Postal Service has undergone many changes.  From the period of time when the term “going Postal” erupted, to Congress’ actions to turn it out as a “quasi” Federal entity — somewhat like an illegitimate sibling — and, now, of more “restructuring” and making the public accept fewer services.  What this ultimately means for employees of the U.S. Postal Service is more stress, greater demands, and likely more injuries and manifested medical conditions resulting from repetitive-overuse injuries and medical conditions resulting from constantly hurrying, without considering the safety concerns of its employees.

This is why accessibility to Postal Disability Retirement benefits becomes crucial in the age of greater stresses.  Whether of work-place injuries, other “non-job related” medical conditions, including physical, emotional or psychological medical conditions, Federal Disability Retirement is a benefit which is there to be accessible when needed.  The list of “qualifying” medical conditions is inexhaustible.  Thus, if you suffer from chronic pain, injuries to your neck or back; psychiatric conditions of Anxiety, Panic Disorder, Major Depression, Bipolar Disorder; or of cancer and the effects from radiation or chemotherapy, etc. — Federal Disability Retirement is a benefit which provides a safety-net during these times of increasing stress and goal-post changes which society and the Federal Government seems to keep adding to the already stress-filled life which the U.S. Postal worker must face on a daily basis.

Sincerely,

Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Postal Employee Medical Retirement Lawyer