On Thursday, April 15, Inspector General David C. Williams provided testimony for a hearing titled: “Continuing to Deliver: An Examination of the Postal Service’s Current Financial Crisis and its Future Viability”. The hearing was held by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Testimony was also provided by Postmaster General John E. Potter; Phillip Herr, Director, Physical Infrastructure Issues, Government Accountability Office: Ruth Y. Goldway, Chairman, Postal Regulatory Commission; John O’Brien, Senior Advisor to the Director, Office of Personnel Management; and Kevin Kosar, Analyst, Congressional Research Service.

View the testimony here.

The deputy postmaster general requested the Office of Inspector General (OIG) to determine whether the Postal Service absenteeism rate is comparable with private and federal sector rates and, if not, to determine the potential causes. The OIG was also asked to compare sick leave usage by postal employees in the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) with that of employees in the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) who are 3 to 4 years from retirement.

OIG auditors concluded the Postal Service’s total absenteeism rate for major benefits is comparable the federal sector but higher than the civilian sector. Two possible causes were identified: the Postal Service offers more leave benefits than the civilian sector, and the Postal Service offers fewer incentives for employees to accumulate leave. OIG auditors also determined employees in the CSRS and FERS use comparable amounts of sick leave in their last years of federal service. This finding debunked the opinion that FERS employees used more sick leave than their CSRS counterparts did before retiring. This was thought to be true, because upon retiring, CSRS employees, received service credit for their sick leave, while FERS employees did not. However, in October 2009, the president signed into law, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010, which does provides FERS employees service credit for accrued sick leave.

The OIG also discovered some postal supervisors did not follow policies and procedures regarding unscheduled absences for at least 11,470 employees nationwide. Contributing factures included lack of training and insufficient oversight. Overtime was used to cover 17.4 percent of the unscheduled sick leave identified during the OIG audit, which resulted in overtime costs of $4 million. To read this report in its entirety, click here...

In the normal course of events, Office of Inspector General (OIG) Special Agents and U.S. Postal Inspectors investigate violations of hundreds of criminal statutes that involve postal employees and/or the mail. However, it isn’t often they see such a variety of criminal activity in one case.

Two former rural carriers were recently arrested in Florida by Postal Inspectors, OIG Agents, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Agents and local police after a joint investigation revealed that the employees had touched all bases when it came to crime. Their drug conspiracy involved intercepting Express Mail parcels with tens of thousands of dollars worth of cocaine and marijuana that were shipped to non-existent addresses on the route of one of the carriers, as well as packages sent from Puerto Rico.

The list of crimes included rifling of parcels, theft of cash, checks and movie DVDs from the mail. One of the former carriers was charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine and marijuana, and one was identified by the OIG as using cocaine while driving a U.S. Postal Service vehicle.

The thefts from the mail occurred at the same time as the drug conspiracy. The pair was arrested on state narcotics charges after a stakeout by the task force. Federal charges are also pending. And their crime spree has come to an end.