Shekeera Greene
By Jeremy M. Lazarus – January 5-7, 2017
Dozens of current and former Richmond (Virginia) mail carriers have received extra payments during the holidays from the U.S. Postal Service, the service has confirmed.
The payments are the latest fallout from a scandal at the Main Post Office on Brook Road that involved supervisors altering carrier time cards – without the carriers’ knowledge – to reduce overtime. The Free Press reported on the scandal just before Thanksgiving.
In response to a Free Press query, USPS spokesman Tom Ouelette stated Wednesday that the payments stem from a settlement “the Postal Service and the National Association of Letter Carriers reached in December.”
“As a result of the settlement, some letter carriers at the Saunders, Bellevue and North Side stations (who work out of the Main Post Office) were entitled to receive additional compensation for the overtime worked,” Mr. Oulette said.
The money ranged from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars, sources told the Free Press.
The USPS Office of Inspector General began a probe of the altered time cards after receiving a grievance from letter carrier Shekeera Greene and four other carriers. The probe led to the dismissal of veteran Richmond Postmaster Howard G. O’Connor and five lower level managers.
A substantial number of the carriers who received the overtime pay deliver mail on one or more residential routes that can require more than eight hours to complete.
Source: Richmond Free Press
How the scandal was exposed:
Shekeera Greene injured her neck while delivering mail in late August.
Documents that helped her prove she was injured on the job have led to the removal of Howard G. O’Connor as postmaster for the Richmond area and the replacement of William Crotzer as manager of carriers at the Main Post Office on Brook Road.
Four others at the Main Post Office who supervise carriers at the Bellevue, Capital, North Side and Saunders post offices also have been replaced.
Sources told the Free Press the removals were related to evidence Ms. Greene provided to the USPS Office of Inspector General showing that supervisors ripped off carriers by changing their time cards to reduce or eliminate overtime pay and that Mr. O’Conner and Mr. Crotzer allegedly condoned the supervisors’ actions.
The Free Press has been told that bonuses for managers and supervisors are tied, in part, to reducing overtime.
Ms. Greene’s injury led to the discovery that supervisors were making unauthorized changes to carriers’ time cards, as the Free Press reported last week, and the intervention of the USPS Office of Inspector General, an internal investigative unit which enforces USPS rules that ban such actions.
Her role as a whistleblower began when she reported her neck injury to the USPS Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs seeking reimbursement for medical treatment and pay for the time she missed while recovering.
She said she received a shocking letter in reply, stating that her claim might not be considered and she might be charged with attempted fraud because “the evidence indicates that you were injured before or after your regular scheduled work hours.”
The OWCP noted Ms. Greene claimed to be injured at 8 p.m. while carrying mail, but the official time records showed “you ended your tour on Aug. 29 at 7 p.m. Please explain.”
That was a big surprise to Ms. Greene, who suffered the agonizing neck pain around 8 p.m. while still delivering mail on Hanover Avenue in The Fan. She said she returned to the Main Post Office after 9 p.m.
So she fought back. With the help of a shop steward, she obtained the official records of her time cards or “clock rings,” which showed that she had clocked out at 9:17 p.m. It also showed a supervisor changed her time card, claiming she had ended her shift at 7 p.m., according to her filing to the Office of Inspector General.
Ms. Greene also obtained time cards for four other carriers who had seen her return to the station after 9 p.m., and those cards also showed tampering by supervisors, according to the filing.
At least three supervisors in Richmond’s Main Post Office appear to routinely change the time cards of letter carriers — without the carriers’ knowledge or permission — in order to reduce their pay.
Documents provided to the Free Press for five carriers show that their digital time cards — called “clock rings” — were altered a collective total of 16 times during a sample period between Aug. 20 and Sept. 2.
Under their contract, letter carriers are to be paid time-and-a-half if they work longer than eight hours in a day. They also are to receive double time if they work more than 10 hours in one day.
Sources said the time reductions are an effort to prevent the carriers from receiving overtime pay.
For example, on Aug. 22, a carrier worked 10½ hours based on the clock-in and clock-out times. But the total hours worked were reduced to 8½ by an unidentified supervisor. The carrier was paid based on the supervisor’s entry on the clock ring.
In another example, a carrier who had recorded working about 10 hours on Aug. 25 had those hours reduced to around 8 hours by an unidentified supervisor whose entry was used in determining the carrier’s pay.
“Most carriers don’t notice or can’t prove their time has been altered because they don’t keep their own detailed records,” one source told the Free Press.
It is unclear how long the practice has been going on and how many carriers have been affected because the documents provide a snapshot of a short period of time.
Sources told the Free Press this is just one example of the problems within the Main Post Office on Brook Road in North Side.
Recently, the Postal Service reinstated and awarded back pay to three Richmond carriers who had been fired for allegedly throwing away mail rather than delivering it. The three were exonerated and the allegations dismissed as false.
In other cases, some carriers have been denied a mandatory $400 uniform allowance, sources said.
I’m now retired – and STILL OWED for FMLA leave pay from a settled grievance from February of 2016. Management doesn’t care. APWU doesn’t care. I can only say thank God I’m out of that $hithole. My sympathies for those I left behind.
Union’s response…………..they can do that! ROFLMAO! for people who do not work at the PO, it is truly a criminal enterprise. needs to be investigated by the FBI! PFP Bonus Cash Scam has got to go!
The same things happening in SF NDC, 2501 RYDIN RD, RICHMOND, CA 94804, tour-3, and Tour-1, control room employees have been forced to work off the clock on their break times and lunch time over many years. No break times, employees are forced to work off the clock on their lunch times. Employees reported to Tour-3 MDO and lead MDO but they just ignore it. It’s the way postal service has been cheating employees and supervisors and managers are getting away with that over many years.
from all the negative comments on this story, I think I need to come up with a new scam to line our pockets at Elephant Plaza with postal PFP bonus cash. think Trump will find out that current Democrat PMG Brennen went out on IOD within first six months on the job? great model of ethical behavior she ain’t. I thought with Crooked Hillary winning I would have a job for life-you know birds of a feather and all that. better get that resume out just in case. just hope Trump does not want to see the cooked books, makes deleting letter carrier overtime small potatoes. wait look over there at the smoke and mirrors and the shadows on the wall Mr Trump! worked every other time!
Every time a postal supervisor,manager is caught violating postal policy sussch as stealing,fighting,stealing,intoxication&drug use they are placed in a secluded position such as a small station or another facility outside their installation if a craft employee acts in this manner they are fired.philadelphia installation has experienced many of these crimes o.i.g call me !!!!!!
Reading this post and your response brought back severe depression that u experienced at the hands of supervisors that I worked under.
When I fell down 6 concrete steps I suffered a permanent and total disability. The things that they did to push me out of the post are unimaginable.
I tried to carry mail afterwards, but was unable to. I went over my allowed time, yet the OT was deleted.
They spread lies to my coworkers, signed my name on paperwork that I knew I didn’t sign, even the union rep turned on me. I was a prime candidate for the call center in Troy, MI yet no one gave me the chance to continue with my job and pay rate. My daughter’s cancer came back.
I had a nervous breakdown. I was suicidal. All hope was gone. My family chose not to help me when I was fired due to attendance. They said that they didn’t know the other side(the PO) as to why I lost my job. My Mom has a hard time showing emphatic towards her kids. There just didn’t seem to be a way out. My credit line went south, my coworkers were afraid to help me. They really took sides with the supervisors because they were hungry for that overtime.
I found out that when I was absent, the supervisors would tell the carriers that chose not to come in, so my route was split into five 1hour deliveries.
Surprise, surprise…right after I had my injury, the routes were rezoned.
I had so many EXTRA blocks put on my route NO ONE ever wanted to carry my route.
My daughter survived, I’m still alive, God is still on the throne…
I am trying to get back in and work at the call center. Food for thought: I left the Department of Corrections and came to the PO when they sent me a letter for employment. Imagine that!!
Smh. This job is such a p.o.s.
I am a 29 year employee come this July. I can remember when I loved my job… That was 25 years ago. Smh. It’s all about numbers n politics now. They don’t care about customer service. I still do. IDC. U can’t teach an old dog new tricks. So I’m the bad guy cuz I’m not running n skipping my breaks.i started at 19 and being naive, I thought, wow I can retire at age 49.. Paaaaaaa. Fat chance. I have about 10-20 more years 😭 I love what I do n my customers, but I hate my job (management) they keep making the routes longer n split them into 4 hours and wonder why u went over ur hour pivot. When I get injured, suddenly, I’m a beater.. becuz everyone else is stupid and continue to work when they are injured. I’ve been here long enough to know, they don’t care about us, only thier #’s. If u don’t cover yourself n take care of urself now, they will drop u like a hot potatoe. Everytime I’m injured, it’s a stressful process. Like it was said, they challenge it and make so stressful u just wanna give in. AND they LOVEEEE messing with ur money. 😤😤
This is simply the tip of the iceberg! This kind of thing goes on everywhere there is Non-permanent and Part time employees! They know if they screw up their pay, most won’t catch it or complain, for fear of losing what little employment they have! These Managers and Supervisors, probably weren’t fired! In the Post Office that simply means being hidden until the heat blows over, then being reassigned or promoted! There is no more dishonest, disreputable, deceitful or underhanded person than many of these Postal Management people! There is no limit to what they will do to further their careers and meet idiotic goals!
The Postal Service has a 44% turnover in Temp/Part time employees! 60% in Carriers alone! Why? Because of Supervisors with little to no compassion, empathy, brains, morals or integrity! They simply abuse their power, not because they have to, because they want to! They don’t get the jobs because they were good employees, most were lazy underachievers! Once in the job, they mistakenly believe they earned it and are somehow more intelligent and important than craft employees! Neither of those beliefs are usually true! Most were terrible employees, lazy and uneducated sycophants!
If the Postal Service really wanted to be successful, they’d hire, promote, pay and build real Managers and Supervisors! Instead of hiring by Race, Gender, Sexual Orientation or whom You’re friends with! Most times, when they hire by any other agenda than the ability to do the job, they get these losers that make the paper! Hire strictly by ability and 2/3 of the Management staff would disappear! That’s why the Postal Service is so screwed up, BAD MANAGEMENT!
in the past these sociopaths would have been promoted…but with Trump coming in there’s a new sheriff in town… and Maggie andLinda Malone are busy shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic so they won’t hear the infamous “Your Fired” Trump phrase!
I would like to know if the management people were really fired or just moved somewhere else and congratulations to all who were involved.
Usually they are NOT fired but sent to another city or district. The weasels just sharpen their evil skills elsewhere!
The Post Office is so full of itself at the top that it is being destroyed by grossly incompetent and corrupt people in Management. For a good read take a look at USPS Vs. Faciane..
I am a retired Postal Worker/ APWU Shop Steward. I have reported to the Postmaster General Megan Brennan and the Postal Inspectors of a former mailhandler shop steward who rose through the ranks to red badge in less than 1 year at the South Florida LDC now known as Royal Palm PDC. Antoinette Harris alters employee live clock rings, takes their overtime/penalty on a regular without following ELM protocol.
She was investigated internally by the management officials who cover
her inciteful actions. Where is the protection for the clerks. I’m available for solid evidence. 785-859-8572 Barbara Hamm-Pratt.
Sorry I forgot to mention the 204b’s got their back pay for Felonda Woods intentional bullshit to try and save the post office money.
Felonda Woods in Sherwood, Arkansas did the same thing- changed the lunch breaks of 2 – 204b’s and shorted them pay. Did she loose her job? NO, sent her to Texas to do the same shit down there. The people put in to get there money back and she asked them if they would have come to her she would have worked it out! What a piece of crap.
the postmaster probably retired.
http://php.app.com/agent/postalemployees/search/page:20?last_name=&first_name=&title=&facility_state=VA&zip=23232
the rest moved around.
Awesome glad to see management finally held repondsible for their actions. This happens in offices all over. Great news.
same thing is happening in the maintenance Dept at the Richmond PDC in sandston .someone should look into Richmond plant also.in maintenance Dept they are changing work hours to hind under staffing…..
This is typical bad management. District and higher let a lot of supervisors get away with crap. I am a retired mail handler from Hampden EMP&D and as an alt. T3 steward, saw a lot of discrimination towards older people and the promotion of 204B who had numerous sexual discriminiation complaints against him, promoted to SDO. Management looks out for management. Nor do they give a crap about safety. I am glad I am retired now. Donohoe sucked when he was in charge of the Post office. Still have no use for the current plant manager at Hampden, Mike Mitchell, A real big moron!
Learn to read your paystub and keep records of hours worked and leave used. I know of a supervisor who input employees for annual leave when the ERMS states sick was requested. This is to make them look good with low sick leave usage. I noticed this with the increased pay adjusted needed. Shared info with Mgr and it fell on deaf ears……I’m now retired!
So sad it takes an employee to do the leg work. All to prove that the employee is honest. From someone that has both sides of the fence, when you sign your oath to do your job, that should me something. What has happened with fair treatment under the law?
You’re correct, the TACS system holds the Employee ID number of the person that 5 codes a ring! 5 codes are for manual input of rings for correction or changed status, only a Management person has that ability!
You’re also correct that these individuals will be hid out and then reassigned or promoted for doing the higher ups dirty work! Inspection Service refuses to do anything about bad managers! Shame only Craft is held to any standards when it comes to removal!
The TACS system does not allow the supervisor to be “unidentified.” Probably someone who provided evidence and was then protected.
Come to my facility where the opposite happens. Mail handlers and clerks are given rings for overtime NOT worked, a little present for their mistresses. Two caught so far, one served a 14 day suspension. Another put on admin for 4 months and then reassigned.
There’s more to this story, the service must have wanted to nail these guys. I’ll bet a year’s salary they are ultimately reinstated and made whole.
My advice: Always keep a record of your own time along with dates. If you ever have to prove what you worked, this always helps. All of the managers and timekeepers were eliminated at the local levels many years ago and it is no surprise that this manipulation of time-worked records has increased.
Miss green was and is a sorry carrier that calls out all the time. Not agreeing with what management did, but the carriers performance is not good. Unfortunately non of this is mentioned when carrier’s take more than 30 minutes for lunch or when a carrier is off their routes for 15 minutes to 1-2 hours and can’t explain what they were doing then other carriers are sent out to help. Stealing!
Great job Ms. Greene!!! Glad that things got corrected for you!!!!!
ONLY HIGH LEVEL MANAGERS GET BONUSES. THE REPORT IS INCORRECT ABOUT THAT ONE SMALL DETAIL. EVERYTHING ELSE IS TRUE. SUPERVISOR’S DONT GET CRAP. THEY ONLY DUE THESE THING OUT OF FEAR OF RETALIATION FROM UPPER MANAGEMENT.
ONLY HIGH LEVEL MANAGERS GET BONUSES. THE REPORT IS INCORRECT ABOUT THAT ONE SMALL DETAIL. EVERYTHING ELSE IS TRUE. SUPERVISOR’S DONT GET CRAP. THEY ONLY DO THESE THING OUT OF FEAR OF RETALIATION FROM UPPER MANAGEMENT.
At least now we know they get bonuses even though they deny getting them. Do they really think we’re stupid or something?
Supervisors make darn good money. Without their bonuses. If their jobs require them to monitor schedules, reduce overtime, place employees, records keeping, etc. Then that IS their job! If they cant do it, they loose it. Just like craft. But we dont make bonuses. Understanding its two different contracts, but what is up with the bonuses. In the clerk craft, there are “lead clerk” employees. They do everything management does with very few exceptions, and usually most of all the organizing without bonus, they are craft. They do a good job, if not, they are to step down. (still hold the bid but not given all the responsibilities) or their bid is abolished.
Doesn’t this take place at all post offices?
In Columbus Ohio it does under Sue Conn
You don’t mess with TACS. Why were they not hitting the clock? That is the best way to get paid right. Also get a copy of your signed 1260 if you don’t have a time card
Reply to LL’s post:
TACS was probably altered by the supervisor which is probably why they were able to prove the case against the postmaster and supervisors. TACS tracks and maintains all clock rings made by the employee and if changed by the supervisor.
they were “hitting the clock” the supervisor then goes in and changes it!!!
everyone, keep track of your time!!!
A postmaster in Pikeville KY altered employees clock rings, embezzling money, false travel vouchers, etc. and she was FIRED. If an employee worked more than eight hours a day, OT she was suppose to get upper management approval, instead she changed the OT to there off day. She changed their time to custodian and clerk hours also. She changed their lunch breaks to where it looked like they took longer lunch breaks.
Don’t forget the trailing girlfriend. Getting promoted and transferred with the Manager.
Short of holding the Area VP accountable, you have done nothing. This cheating
is condoned from the top down!
BTW The clock rings and the adjustments ARE recorded in the time keeping system.
If the union or management wanted to really know the truth, if could have a daily report identifying the potential fraud.
just one more reason that President Trump should throw out the corrupt PFP bonus scam………….Postal Circus needs a full blown private audit from top to bottom…..and why not? Trump needs to appoint his own PMG! get rid of Little Miss IOD Piggy!
Screwing with time cards is stealing from the employee, the same way as taking cash out of your wallet. Managers caught doing this should be punished the same way any craft employee would be if they were caught stealing…..walked out the door, after turning in your ID and keys. Bye, bye, you crooked pieces of dog excrement!
Hard to imagine postal management not doing the right thing.
Good job NALC for turning a blind eye to this activity from management. I say this because this practice has been going on for long time and it goes in my city to. My explanation is as long as shop stewards and local union president is paid off by the postmasters and given perks not do there routes as I witness countless times union reps turn a blind eye to the carriers struggle and sell out the carrier for our union reps to have it easy. The time has come not only for management to be overhauled and also our pathetic union (NALC) needs to be overhauled. Vote for David Noble in 2018 or bring in the teamsters!
What are you talking about? As steward I caught management altering clock rings many times – filed grievances – got them paid correctly. then because these grievances had to go up to the DRT team, the NALC rep at that level showed information to Inspectors. One supv walked out the door. And I encouraged the fellow carriers to file EEOC complaints. Is that a blind eye? Well I must be Capt Hook.
To all of you out there that travel to different locations for work other than your home office. If you are told by MNGT. that it is local travel & you are not entitled to mileage & time on the clock, check again! It must be the “suburban area” of your office. In other words you would start out in a large city, drive for 50 miles & still be in that city. If you are in one city or town then drive to another city or town you should more than likely qualify for this pay! In my opinion Mngt. are as guilty here in travel as they are in falsifying time records. So further, lets say you worked 40 hours in the week? then had to travel 30 minutes here and there each day. This time turns into overtime & penalty overtime by the end of the week! Then total your miles X 56 cents or so per mile. Quit getting screwed out of your money! Elm 438 Travel, Elm 444 FLSA overtime, Elm 536 go back 6 years for your back pay! We already won this back in the early 80’s.
happens often here in rahway nj. they get away with a lot
I think the bonus or incentive pay or what ever you want to call it should be done away with for Postmasters. All it does is lead to greed for some of them.(Not all). they will do what ever to get the bonus even to mistreating & harassing the workers they supervise. They are getting these bonus on the back of the people who are doing the work & then cheating them out of pay they deserve. I think if they cheating workers out of pay intentionally then when caught the pay should come out of their check to correct the pay of the ones who they cheated.
I told my underlings to do that in my plant too, more bonus for me.
This crap goes on all of the time. So many carriers don’t keep track of exactly how many hours they work and routinely get ripped off. They’re going to do this to the wrong person and it’s going to be a blood bath.
I doubt that the management personal were put up for removal. Most likely promoted to higher level in new location. In Cleveland a few years ago, the area manager sent letters to all the low life employees saying many employees were dishonest and would be watched by the inspectors. He was punished severely. He was placed in a nice soft office job in Washington. The worst thing he had to do was drink coffee. The only way they are put up for removal is when they forget to scan their donuts.
Yeah this is saying fired, but past practice they just moved the trash management from place to another to do more damage. No real discipline ever. It’s sad what they get away it. I’m a victim of their illegal practices and it’s crazy how they are even protected by their law department when obvious wrong is done. Change is needed in that place overall.
Thos went on all the time in Manhattan where i worked and retired after 37 years. On overtime days ,on Saturday or Sunday ,. I witnessed a window supervisor sign the end tour for 2:30pm and then went home at 12pm.Stealing 2and a half hours from the government.This went on during the week also.These are the kind of people the government promotes.If your a decent,honest,good person don’t let them know it if you want a promotion. You must be a TEAM PLAYER and be as corrupt as they are.
THIS — a typo!!
They probably weren’t just moved but probably promoted. Typical management a.holes.
this person had 36 years, they retired;
http://php.app.com/agent/postalemployees/details/589203
http://php.app.com/agent/postalemployees/search/page:20?last_name=&first_name=&title=&facility_state=VA&zip=23232
Arthur, I know this is what happened to me. I was a lot different from many of the female carriers. I was genuinely loved by many of the men at my office. Had I been a loud mouth cursing cheap tramp, I would have had no problems with supervision.
The most bizarre work environment even.
i dont trust no management
What are the names of the toolbag supervisors. They should be
exposed like the scumbag Manager. The PO has more
Management toolbags ripping off the service as well as the
customers and workers than the American people know. More incompetent,
immoral and unethical toolbags are running the service into
ruin. How are those new delivery standards working out?
see them all here;
http://php.app.com/agent/postalemployees/search/page:20?last_name=&first_name=&title=&facility_state=VA&zip=23232
So were these scumbags actually fired or just relocated….which is what usually happens!!!
As a newly retired city letter carrier, maybe I should butt out, and indeed the last couple posts I submitted were not posted, but always double check your time clock rings against what is claimed on your check stub where all overtime hours are posted. It’s actually fairly easy – keep a notebook and record your end times, and compare with the stub.
Firing these crooked managers is fitting, and it’s nice to know that not everybody in upper level management will protect those who are out and out stealing money in order to hopefully get a bigger Christmas bonus. Plus, if I had been a supervisor, I would have refused to enter false information and reported my postmaster or station manager regardless of whether I lost my job at the time because there is principle involved here, and nobody will ever get me to do wrong deliberately.
This is not an isolated incident. There have been countless reports and grievances of managers falsifying clock rings across the country. It’s one thing to jimmy with route count data – you don’t lose money if your route is maladjusted, and it will always be too long. It’s quite another to steal employees’ rightful pay and it’s too bad these thieves couldn’t be prosecuted.
Carriers and clerks do dumb stuff too – don’t get me wrong – but it’s high time we start being more honest ourselves, and demand management do the same. If you’re working in an office where your managers and supervisors treat you well, be glad and even thank them. That’s not ass kissing – you’d like to have your bosses tell you they appreciate your efforts, wouldn’t you? My supervisors and PM were always quick to pay us a compliment here and there, and let me tell you, it made a lot of difference.
That’s why ,after all the years you put in,your not a supervisor.
No amount of love of money would ever have gotten me into management, and the way the NALC acts at higher levels, a good ol’ boy system that’s just as bad sometimes as management, they didn’t want me either. Could have done it, and lots of carriers in the state wanted me to run for state office, but I knew the powers that be in my region were ready and willing to sabotage me at every step. Whistleblowers and honest people do not have bright futures in management in any kind of business, and unions are business, too.
Watch for a lot of new promotions ! Not one will ever be prosecuted . They will probably show up in Florida on the retirement tour . We had Washington Bozo’s remodel office’s to the tune of $100,000. Never been seen at work (work one day) except to look for their retirement home . Fly back and forth . Have their moving expenses paid then after 6 months to a year finally retire . We also had the postmaster from Pilly who was taking money under the table forced to retire to Florida . What a penalty !