Bruce Moyer, NAPS legal counsel, discussed the NAPS lawsuit against the Postal Service, which is about affirming EAS rights and fairness of EAS pay as required by Title 39. Congress created the Postal Service in 1970 with the Postal Reorganization Act. It recognized the vital role supervisory and managerial personnel play in converting postal policy into successful postal operations.
Congress took the deliberate step of protecting the rights of supervisory and managerial personnel for fair and adequate compensation through a participatory process known as pay consultation or pay talks. This process is mandated in federal law: U.S. Code, Title 39, Section 1004. Pay consultation is not the same as collective bargaining. The USPS exclusively makes the final decision on pay and is obligated only to give full and fair consideration to NAPS’ requests for any changes.
As part of the Postal Reorganization Act, Congress requires a pay differential between supervisors and the employees they supervise. Congress also required the USPS to pay supervisors at a level competitive with comparable private-sector work.
Also, pay consultations are to begin no later than 45 days after the agency reaches a collective-bargaining agreement with the largest postal employee union, currently the NALC.