When Melissa Pauke, a U.S. Postal Service clerk in Marshfield, scheduled her surgery to become a kidney donor last year, her supervisor assured her that her administrative leave benefits would arrive shortly after.
But nearly one year later, Pauke is still awaiting over $8,000 in pay.
Pauke, 54, contacted Public Investigator in April, baffled as to why USPS was withholding her pay without explanation, despite the federal Organ Donor Leave Act.
The nearly three decade-old law signed by President Bill Clinton allows federal employees up to 30 days of paid leave, in addition to annual and sick leave, to serve as organ donors.
Pauke’s decision to become a kidney donor was inspired by a conversation with a customer last spring whose son was saved by a transplant.
“Somehow we ended up on this conversation about how her son, when he was in high school, went into kidney failure,” Pauke recalled.
Pauke underwent surgery in June 2024, and her kidney was successfully given to a recipient.
But month after month passed without any news about her pay.
Pauke said her direct supervisor, a postmaster at the USPS station in Marshfield, struggled to get his supervisors and human resources to formally approve her payment.
