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0/16/2015 – The APWU is discouraging union members from participating in a voluntary program established by the Postal Service that creates an online database of their health records, APWU President Mark Dimondstein has announced.
“Last year’s cyber attack on the Postal Service demonstrates the danger in posting sensitive personal information in an online database maintained by management,” Dimondstein said. A 2014 breach of USPS records compromised the names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, and addresses of workers and some retirees; information regarding OWCP records that were shared with the Department of Labor also exposed medical records, bank account and routing information.
This year, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the federal agency that manages the records of federal and postal retirees and current and former members of the military, also reported two major data breaches.
Management launched the voluntary online database of employees’ health records, now known as USPS Health Connect Portal, in early October.
“Based on our experience with the 2014 cyber attack, we urge union members to exercise caution,” Dimondstein said. “The APWU is fully committed to defending the privacy rights of our members and we encourage union members to be vigilant on their own behalf as well.”
The USPS has already shown that they are not capable of safeguarding our information last year due to negligence and incompetence, and by how they handled the hacking afterward . This plan is nothing more than an end run around HIPAA and the Privacy policy. Does anyone remember when the OIG used the I.G. Act of 1998 to try and get employees restricted medical information? The NALC filed a lawsuit and won. Kudos to them! Stay away from this Trojan horse. Does anyone not think your supervisors would use this against you? It’s always interesting when our supervisors with medical degrees are on the workroom floor discussing craft employees medical conditions and giving their own diagnosis and opinions. What part of the training is that in and how long is the course? I might want to take it. This has happened in the Scranton , Pa. plant where there is NO confidentiality. Sadly, I’m sure there will be people who will be involved in this bad idea. Please, don’t be naïve.
Ya, that’s a “no-brainier”!!
Lol!! Hard a day goes by,in which there isn’t a security breach. So multiple cyber-criminals,have all information and we should brace ourselves 4 indentity-thift. It’s,old already and tiring 2 hear 2 heat about. Perhaps,these attacks r coordinated with governments,not just the Chinese,but,our own? Or maybe multi-national corporations r adding and abetting cyber-criminals as have been shown 2 be the with the illegal drug-trade?
As the former APWU President,I recommend when management wants something,give it to them and more because I put my trust in USPS management.