Usps And Clinton: Law-Breaking Or Conspiracy Theory?

The United States Postal Service (USPS) was accused of violating federal law by allowing employees to work for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign while on leave from the agency. The Office of Special Counsel (OSC) determined that the USPS engaged in systemic violations of the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal workers from engaging in partisan politics. The USPS granted leave requests to almost 100 letter carriers, allowing them to work for Clinton's campaign, which investigators deemed a violation of the law. The USPS apologised and promised to end the abuses, but no disciplinary action was taken.

USPS violated the Hatch Act

The Hatch Act is a federal law that restricts the political activity of federal and Postal Service employees while on duty, on government property, wearing an official uniform, or using a government vehicle. It also prohibits candidates from campaigning for election to public office on leased or owned postal property. The law was passed in 1939 and is enforced by the Office of Special Counsel.

The Hatch Act’s goals are to ensure federal programs are administered in a nonpartisan fashion, to protect employees from political coercion in the workplace, and to ensure that employees are promoted based on merit and not political affiliation. While the law restricts the partisan political activity of federal employees, not all actions are prohibited. For instance, employees are permitted to vote in elections, assist in voter registration drives, donate to political candidates and parties, work at the polls on Election Day, and volunteer for political campaigns.

In 2016, the United States Postal Service (USPS) allowed 97 letter carriers to take leave to work for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. This was found to be a violation of the Hatch Act, as it showed an "institutional bias" towards the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC)-endorsed political candidates. The USPS was accused of pressuring local managers to approve time off for letter carriers who wanted to campaign for Clinton and other Democrats backed by the NALC. As a result, 97 letter carriers took unpaid leave for periods ranging from four to 50 days, totaling more than 2,700 days off. This resulted in mail delivery delays and increased overtime costs for the USPS.

The violation of the Hatch Act by the USPS drew an immediate apology from Postmaster General Megan J. Brennan, who called the violation "unintentional" and promised to end the abuses. The Office of Special Counsel urged the USPS to adopt a "hands-off" approach to the union's political activities and drop references to political activities being allowed for leave without pay.

USPS pressured local supervisors to approve time off for letter carriers

The United States Postal Service (USPS) violated federal law by pressuring local supervisors to approve time off for letter carriers who wanted to campaign for presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and other Democrats backed by their labor union. This was revealed during a hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, where officials from the Office of Special Counsel and the Postal Service inspector general's office shared their findings.

The investigation found that high-level agency officials pressured local managers to release letter carriers for extended periods, so they could participate in get-out-the-vote efforts for Clinton and other union-backed political candidates. These managers, who tried to resist due to the impact on local operations, were directed by Postal Service officials to grant the unpaid leave.

In total, 97 letter carriers took unpaid leave, ranging from four to 50 days, to campaign for union-backed candidates. The majority of this time off, 82%, was spent in swing states like Florida, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. All 97 employees were members of the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), a major postal union and one of the largest unions representing Postal Service employees.

The granting of leave to letter carriers resulted in mail delivery delays and increased overtime, according to some local supervisors. This situation demonstrated an "institutional bias in favor of NALC's endorsed political candidates," as stated by Adam Miles, the acting director of the Office of Special Counsel. He further determined that this bias violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employers from engaging in certain political activities. While federal employers can campaign or donate to political campaigns on their time off, USPS officials showed favoritism toward candidates backed by NALC.

The USPS spent $90,000 on overtime to cover for the employees who took time off to campaign, as per the inspector general's report. The report also criticized the USPS for failing to properly consider operational issues and recommended that management adhere to existing policies regarding leave requests.

USPS coordinated with the National Association of Letter Carriers

The USPS coordinated with the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) to allow 97 letter carriers to take leave without pay to work on Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. The NALC is a major postal union that has long been securing leave without pay for union members at election time, a practice that dates back to the 1990s. This coordination between the USPS and the NALC resulted in an "institutional bias" in favour of the NALC's endorsed political candidates, which violated the Hatch Act, a federal law that prohibits federal workers from engaging in partisan politics.

The investigation into the USPS's actions was launched after a complaint by a USPS employee, who alleged that the Postal Service "incurred unnecessary overtime costs" and "improperly coordinated" with the NALC. The investigation revealed that the USPS showed a "bias" towards the Democratic candidates in the 2016 election, as 82% of the leave taken by the letter carriers was spent in swing states like Florida, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

The NALC provided lists of letter carriers who would be participating in campaign activity to a senior USPS labour relations official, who then emailed these lists to other USPS officials across the country. Local USPS officials interpreted these communications as directives from USPS headquarters to release the carriers on union official leave without pay. Some local supervisors raised concerns about the impact on postal operations and attempted to deny the leave requests, but they were overruled by headquarters officials.

In response to the investigation, Postmaster General Megan Brennan apologised for the USPS's violations of the Hatch Act, calling them “unintentional”, and promised to end the abuses. The USPS was instructed to adopt a "hands-off" approach to the union's political activities and to drop references to political activities being allowed for leave without pay. Brennan also stated that the USPS did not seek to assist the NALC's "favoured candidates" and that the practice of granting leave for NALC political activity has been in place for approximately 20 years.

USPS incurred unnecessary overtime costs

The United States Postal Service (USPS) incurred unnecessary overtime costs in 2016 when it allowed 97 letter carriers to take leave to work for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. This resulted in a net overtime cost of more than $90,000 to cover the jobs of the workers granted leave.

From fiscal year (FY) 2014 to FY 2019, annual overtime costs for the USPS increased from $3.7 to $5 billion, while overtime hours increased from 98.9 to 129.7 million. In FY 2019, the USPS exceeded its planned overtime and penalty overtime hours by more than 9.5 and 4.4 million hours, respectively, resulting in about $521.6 million in questioned costs.

The USPS's overtime costs and hours consistently exceeded their planned overtime budgets during this period, despite a decrease in mail volume and an increase in employee levels. Management's actual regular overtime costs and hours exceeded their planned overtime for each of the past six fiscal years, ranging from $73.2 million to $801.7 million in costs and 2.0 million to 21.7 million hours.

The increase in overtime costs can be attributed to several factors, including:

• Inadequate staffing levels: Delivery units operated below their authorized complement, with up to 18 vacancies during FY 2018.
• Inaccurate use of the employee scheduler: Management used a base week that was not representative of mail processing operations, underestimating the number of employees needed. This contributed to a decrease in the overall mail processing complement by about 5,000 career positions during FY 2018.
• Lack of direct deterrents in the Postal Service's framework for measuring key performance indicators: There was no mechanism to prevent management from exceeding their overtime budget.
• Lack of analytical data on overtime use: Headquarters management did not require supervisors and managers in the field to collect information on their reasons for overtime use, which could have helped identify areas to adjust employee and operational schedules.
• Inadequate supervisory oversight: Management did not ensure proper completion and maintenance of required Postal Service forms, adequate access and control of employee timecards, and timely review of Time and Attendance Collection System reports.

To address these issues, the USPS should:

• Address staffing issues at facilities operating below their authorized complement or with excessive vacancies.
• Identify opportunities for savings at locations with high overtime users by determining when hiring new staff becomes more cost-efficient than using overtime.
• Modify current policies and procedures to include performance measures or other oversight controls to hold management accountable for not reducing overtime use.
• Implement a process to collect and monitor data on the reasons for overtime use to better manage and control overtime costs.
• Develop an action plan with milestones to monitor and reduce unauthorized overtime.
• Establish and implement automated processes to update and validate the accuracy and completeness of data file parameters.

USPS managers overrode local supervisors' concerns

In 2016, the United States Postal Service (USPS) allowed 97 letter carriers to take leave to work for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. This was a violation of the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal workers from engaging in partisan politics. The USPS's actions were deemed to show an "institutional bias" towards the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), a major postal union that has had a "long-standing practice" of securing leave for its members at election time.

Some local managers attempted to deny the leave requests, but an unnamed headquarters labour relations executive sent emails to field managers requiring explanations for any unapproved requests. This overruling of local supervisors' concerns led to accusations that the USPS had violated federal law.

The USPS's actions were described as "unintentional" by Postmaster General Megan J. Brennan, who apologised and promised to end the abuses. Adam Miles, acting U.S. Special Counsel, said that his office did not believe individual punishments were appropriate and that the practice was a result of the USPS's efforts to "engender goodwill with the union".

To prevent further violations, the Office of Special Counsel recommended that the USPS adopt a "hands-off" approach to the union's political activities and drop references to political activities being allowed for leave without pay.

Frequently asked questions