12/23/2025
Firstly, I want to thank the carrier who sent this and wish them the best as they work through this process.
This is the exact checklist Management is using when conducting safety observations that lead to Emergency Placement. This carrier was just placed on EP by a nonlocal manager. This is not about debating what happened or how it happened. It is about the fact that the entire process is scripted.
It does not matter which union you belong to or how long you have been with the Postal Service. Emergency Placement is being used as a punishment, and this document proves it. The wording is not situational or based on an actual belief. It is prewritten and required to be read verbatim:
“I believe retaining you on duty may result in damage to U.S. Postal Service property, and you may injure yourself or others.”
If this statement were truly based on belief, it would not be scripted. The fact that managers are instructed to read it word for word shows they are not making an independent safety determination. They are following a directive. They are using specific language to invoke the article they are abusing.
For rural carriers, this is an abuse of Article 16.5. For NALC and APWU, it is an abuse of Article 16.7. Emergency Placement requires the person making the decision to genuinely believe the employee presents an immediate danger. In these cases, that belief does not exist. Everyone reading this knows these actions are not about safety. They are about control and appearances for upper management.
The only benefit this carrier receives is being off the street during the busiest portion of the season. But that benefit comes at a real cost. Their route does not disappear. The work does not disappear. It falls on other carriers, forcing overtime, stretching relief carriers, and increasing the likelihood of service delays. Routes are split, hours rise, and the Postal Service ends up paying more to cover work that should have been done by the carrier already trained for it. The disruption does not improve safety. It only increases stress, cost, and inefficiency. Apparently, this manager did not consider any of that.
At what point do our National Boards step in and put an end to this? Carriers should not be forced out of their lives just to make Management look good. This needs to stop.
