U.S. Department of Labor Sues USPS After They Fired Worker for On-the-Job Injury
The U.S. Department of Labor recently acquired a judgment against the United States Postal Service after a two-day bench trial. The judgment orders the USPS to pay $141,307 in lost wages and damages for emotional distress to a former probationary mail carrier who was fired after they were injured on the job. The firing occurred after the worker reported an on-the-job injury to their supervisor and filed an accident report.
The court found that USPS discriminated against and wrongfully terminated the employee 21 days after the worker reported that they suffered a leg injury near the end of their shift after unloading mail from their truck. The agency fired the worker 11 days after they reported before their probationary period ended. The judgment follows an investigation by the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration and litigation filed by the department’s Office of the Solicitor after an administrative settlement could not be reached.
Since 2020, the Department of Labor has filed nine federal lawsuits against USPS to protect probationary employees after they were similarly fired following injuries they suffered on the job. In many of these lawsuits, the Department of Labor found USPS did not follow its own policies and procedures related to probation, including timely evaluation of the employee and completion of probationary reports including PS Form 1750. The judge noted that USPS’ failure to follow its own procedures was “evidence of retaliatory intent.”
Under both FMLA rules and workers’ compensation law, an employee cannot be fired for suffering an on-the-job injury, even if that injury occurs during a probationary period.
“Unconscionably, the U.S. Postal Service has fired probationary employees repeatedly after they reported workplace injuries,” said Regional Solicitor of Labor Marc Pilotin in San Francisco. “Employees and their families are harmed by these baseless terminations. In fact, the Oregon court found they caused ‘significant mental, emotional, and financial stress’.”
In addition to the aforementioned lawsuit, the Department of Labor has identified a repeated pattern of similar actions by USPS. Since 2020, OSHA has resolved five similar investigations in California, Florida, Illinois, and New Jersey. Three similar cases are awaiting trial in Washington. Federal law prohibits employees from taking adverse actions or punishing employees who report an injury or workplace hazard.
The aforementioned lawsuit is one of several recent court orders in the Department of Labor’s favor. Last year, a federal court in Tacoma issued a summary judgment, finding that USPS did retaliate against a probationary employee who reported a workplace injury.
In another case that is currently pending, the court stated it would draw negative inferences against USPS for failing to preserve critical evidence by destroying text messages and throwing the personnel records of a probationary mail carrier, who was fired one day after reporting a workplace injury, into the garbage.
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Source:
dol.gov/newsroom/releases/sol/sol20240522-0
