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The Office of Special Counsel announces a settlement over violation of the Hatch Act at the U.S. Postal Service

June 24, 2022

READ FULL ARTICLE AT » Government Executive

U.S. Postal Service

OSC filed a complaint with the Merit Systems Protection Board for disciplinary action charging a mail carrier in California for violating three provisions of the Hatch Act.

“In August 2020, she intentionally removed and discarded 66 pieces of presorted deliverable mail intended for delivery on her route because the pieces were sent by a political party or the campaign of a candidate for partisan political office,” said OSC’s press release. “According to the complaint, the carrier placed the mail in an undeliverable mail bin from which it would have been thrown away, but an attentive employee at the post office noticed an unusual quantity of political mail in the bin and alerted a postmaster.”

The carrier admitted in the settlement agreement that OSC could prove she violated the Hatch Act’ provisions prohibiting federal employees from taking part in political activity while on duty or in the federal workplace and prohibiting employees’ use of “official authority to interfere with or affect the results of an election.”

The carrier agreed to resign and accept a one year-debarment from working for the federal government as a penalty.

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