The U.S. Postal Service will have to compensate a probationary mail carrier in Oregon who was fired after reporting an on-the-job injury, a scenario that plays out all too frequently at the USPS, federal officials allege.
A federal judge has ordered the postal service to pay the worker $141,307 in lost wages and damages for emotional distress following a two-day trial, the Department of Labor announced on Wednesday.
The USPS didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
“The U.S. Postal Service has fired probationary employees repeatedly after they reported workplace injuries,” Marc Pilotin, regional solicitor of labor in San Francisco, said in the release. “Employees and their families are harmed by these baseless terminations. In fact, the Oregon court found they caused ‘significant mental, emotional and financial stress’.”
