A federal labor judge ruled that the U.S. Postal Service unlawfully disciplined two Florida workers who documented workplace grievances on social media and by cellphone, finding the USPS rules used against them were overbroad under federal labor law.
A federal administrative law judge has ruled that the United States Postal Service violated federal labor law when it moved to terminate two Florida employees who used their cellphones to document and publicize workplace grievances, one through a viral TikTok video and the other by photographing a mail-sorting machine she believed posed a safety hazard.
In a decision issued May 6, 2026, Administrative Law Judge Benjamin W. Green of the National Labor Relations Board found that USPS unlawfully disciplined Kellman Kirkconnell, a rural letter carrier in Gainesville, and Keren Williams, a mail handler in Lake Mary, relying on workplace rules the judge found to be overbroad and incompatible with workers’ rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
Kirkconnell’s case arose in April 2023, when results of the Rural Route Evaluated Compensation System (RRECS), a long-contested pay formula, were distributed to rural letter carriers. Kirkconnell learned he stood to lose roughly $12,000 in annual guaranteed pay while gaining an extra workday per pay period. Rather than walking out alongside colleagues who did so that day, he recorded a brief video on the workroom floor and posted it to TikTok. The video generated substantial public engagement and prompted exchanges with other postal workers across the country facing similar pay reductions. Management ordered him to remove the videos, warned him he was “being watched,” and ultimately issued a notice of removal that was later reduced to a seven-day suspension through a union grievance settlement. Notably, the judge dismissed the specific allegation that USPS engaged in unlawful surveillance, finding the General Counsel did not prove that management acted in an out-of-the-ordinary manner to observe Kirkconnell’s posts.
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