Going Postal: Post Office Worker Sues Colleagues, Claims Defamation of Character
A Bolingbrook, Illinois postal worker (also a former NALC steward) has filed a lawsuit claiming four USPS management officials “disparaged him with libelous comparisons to violent people.”
Christopher A. Johnson, a city letter carrier since 2007, filed his defamation of character lawsuit on February 9, 2015 in Will County court against:
Johnson and the people he sued all work at the Bolingbrook post office, according to the lawsuit. Johnson said Postmaster and Supervisors “compared (him) to a ‘husband on the news nightly who killed his family and then himself,’” and also “compared (him) to other individuals who within the past, committed violent acts within the United States Postal Service.”
Johnson claims that the disparaging remarks made by these individuals on August 27, 2014 was one of the reasons which prompted his resignation as NALC steward. Johnson is seeking monetary damages from $15,000-$50,000.
No dates were listed to indicate when the case will continue.
Read more: Going Postal: Post Office Worker Sues Colleagues, Claims Defamation of Character
best way to get back at these bums is to buy UPS and FDX stock………laugh all the way to the bank!
LOL! That is all one can say ~~ thanks for the chuckle.
I called my subordinates worst and all they can do is suck it up.
Say my name!
I have heard often that lawyers, or a lot of them anyway, won’t touch a postal issue with a ten foot pole. I used to be steward or president, usually trading off with the other fellow so we could focus on different aspects and give each other a break for a long long time, and during a period of exceptional abuse filed many Joint Statements on Violence and Behavior in the Workplace against a very mean supervisor and a postmaster who didn’t want to draw attention and chose to support this supervisor rather than admit there was a problem.
It was so bad that I had little trouble getting witnesses, statements, etc. to prove my cases, and that’s where the trouble is when addressing abusive behavior. Too many people are not willing to get their hands dirty and invite the same horrible behavior upon themselves, usually leaving a union officer with a he said, she said situation, with the only “witnesses” being other management personnel.
Before a lawyer will touch a case, they will want hard evidence, not anecdotal. Witness statements work for the union, but in a court of law, it isn’t enough, especially when the defendant is the U.S. Postal Service. Tragically, it takes violent crimes and similar incidences to get attention.
The best defense against abuse is for a station or office to unite and be willing to step up in defense of their fellow worker. It is harder to ignore dozens of workers, and bolsters the case for the union reps who may handle the situation at a higher level. Management may back down if they see entire shifts standing tall and refusing to allow themselves to be bullied or intimidated. Never let a supervisor or manager corner you by yourself without a union rep, or failing that, a fellow employee you can trust to back you up. They will try to isolate you, and your best defense is citing Weingarten, the federal law that forces management to allow union representation if a meeting with them makes you believe you could be disciplined. You do not have to stand still and take abuse.
You can also contact your National Labor Relations Board, lawmakers and tell them your problems. And here’s a secret abusive managers don’t want you to know: if your situation is threatening, or you feel you are in any kind of danger, physically or mentally through implied threats or other tactics, you can contact the threat assessment team at your district level and demand they investigate, but do that through your steward. Management HATES that, and you send a message that you will not tolerate their bullying ways.
This case will be thrown out before it gets started. Management can’t be sued in civil court. But at least he exposed the toxic language and behavior of management.
Good luck with that. If this catches on, every supervisor who has ever been called an idiot or a #$%& (and there are probably a few out there) will be suing for defamation. I am sure the courts that don’t have time to deal with all of their torture and murder cases would be happy to get a bunch of Postal Service slander cases crowding their dockets. But it is the guy’s right to file his case and seek his relief. Who knows, he might win.
Good luck. I and many others have experienced what you are going through. It is hard to find a lawyer, as they know the USPS has too many management “heads”, making it hard to find one person to pursue in legal matters. Civil suits have a very good chance. I myself have a nastily worded letter of removal that I beat, but the damage was done, and after years, you still remember it. That is how the Post Office punishes people, with mental attacks.