Postal Retirement Q&A July 2014

Please take the time to recognize our VETERANS on this 4th of July…to them we OWE SO MUCH!!

Roseanne is a retired USPS employee with an extensive background in USPS retirement, disability retirement, OWCP, EEO, Labor Relations and HR. She conducts individual and group counseling and is able to comprehensively discuss the pros and cons of employees who are on OWCP, disability retirement and regular retirement.

Roseanne is a retired USPS employee with an extensive background in USPS retirement, disability retirement, OWCP, EEO, Labor Relations and HR. She conducts individual and group counseling and is able to comprehensively discuss the pros and cons of employees who are on OWCP, disability retirement and regular retirement.

June was a REALLY CRAZY month….busy, did a Rural Carrier State Convention on retirement…..So many questions….so little time, but one great group of employees. So I get a phone call this week and a postmaster is just bubbling that they have re vamped the POStPlan Org Change and RIF Timeline. AND they have offered (ONLY THOSE POSTMASTERS EFFECTED IN THIS POStPlan Re-Org) another $10,000 incentive, and a new “get outta dodge” date 09/30/2014. Well, if you have been reading my column for awhile, you know I have predicted more early outs, and I have more often than not, stated I didn’t think that $$ would be offered, but obviously “incentives” are still on the table….because they are NOT where they need to be “staffing wise” as of yet !! And the idea that when an employee retires, “SURELY THEY WILL BE REPLACED”, has now become a “crap shoot”. You really never know if that employee will be replaced, and that effects many times if an employee will change from part time to full time status or better known as a “regular”.

We are coming down to the wire on RIF separations…..it will be ugly if you don’t find a landing spot…..because you WILL BE SEPARATED. RIF rules are very specific, and IF I WERE still working and on the verge of being given a RIF separation, I would not try to play HARD BALL, in obtaining the job of my choice…..again…..this is one…you won’t win…..YOU DON’T WANT TO BE THE ONE WITHOUT A CHAIR WHEN THE MUSIC STOPS!!!

This month has been very busy with emails and your concerns about the organization and the treatment of employees. It does have a way of eating away at anyone’s good nature. And I have been told, written to, called, by so many that the levels of anger and rage are at epic proportions. And sometimes, in some places, things have had some horrible consequences due to the insane pressure being applied.

I use this scenario, because I think it validates the lunacy of this organization sometimes. If you are a Postmaster, and you have 2 full-time clerks…(never mind if you have any part time clerks…just for this example only 2 FT clerks)…and you are given a budget that says 12 clerks hours per day. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE!? HOW IS THAT LEGAL? WHAT does the PM have to make sure that someone is given annual or “heaven’s forbid” sick leave? How do you make that work….you can’t…A full-time employee is guaranteed 8 hours a day, you got 2, that’s 16 hours a day….I say that to say….it is NOT worth it to allow an employer make you so volatile that it appears you are not in control…. I know, I have been there….my district would call it Roseanne is going “ziggityboo”, because when you are in it…..you don’t sense the destruction of it, until you leave it.

When you retire, you will return to normal, it takes a bit, but every single one of you reading this knows I am right. WE are NOT who we were, when we were first hired…..flat out!! Regardless of what our position was when we hired or what our position is when we retire….we have CHANGED!!! We are cynical, and untrusting…. But who am I to talk, spent hours upon hours shredding my COA files from the period of time I was in Management…(decades!!). CUZ, ya just never know when they are going to ask for some stupid #%^, that they should have already had. NO need to explain…..you all know!!

Q & A, more via Postal Retirement Information- PostalMag.com.

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