Once again the forum has fallen silence. Almost a week and no new posts?

And that my friend, is why you should question who are the real people on the board......with the real problems.........

Question, If you file an EEO for retrobution for protected activity, then something happens where you should file an EEO for discrimination, can the EEO counseler add the new stuff to the original EEO case? Or are they just messing with me?

Edited by author 06-20-2008 05:09 AM
Darkrose/ can you give an example of the protected activity. Retaliation guidelines are different for postal employees. What type of discrimination was recently done. If issues or alike or retaliation for you filing an EEO, the PO is to do everything to join the complaints, and avoid fragmenting the cases. Beware! If you have allready filed formal, then you want to file this new complaint and then when you file formal on it request it to be amended to the first complaint. If you have not filed formal with the first one yet, and this new incident of discrimination happened prior to geting that formal in, they you can add. Say you call an d file a complaint. A week later they do another act of discrimination, then if related, connected, alike in nature, or retaliation for the first one, then you can include any new incident up to filing formal. I think I'm too tired, to make sence, but hope I did.

saltwatertaffy.. I'm still routing for ya... hope all is well with you and the family..

i filed 3 eeo claims this year
PO denied the claims stating, failure to state a claim
i appealed
just recieved a letter that was cc (copied) to me.. this is a reponse from po to the director of EEOC commission in Washington... seems this director has requested a copy of my EEO file from the PO... it says enclosed is a copy of this file and then again the po says this claim should be denied
po says

"Complainant's claim and appeal are based solely on her disappointment and her unsupported opinions. in addition, complainant argues the merits of the case."

of course i am disappointed in the po, who isn't.. but it is not based on my disappointment and i have enough supported documents to support my case.. i am not sure what they mean by "complainant argues the merits of the case?"

should i do a short response to this letter? Send documents in support of my claims? i feel i shouldn't send anything yet...
I feel my appeal letter was a strong response, the po is grasping at straws. Course i could be wrong..

i feel this is awesome and Washington is looking into my claims..
Any opinons???

thanks Me <s> Will let you know as soon as I know...family the same, youngest child still vegan, still not talking..he he But, we did see our other two in April..we took a vacation with them and a few of their friends..lots of fun!

Send documents in support of my claims? i feel i shouldn't send anything yet...
Me,If you case is appealed to EEOC in DC, then you should send your evidence.
You can't trust the PO as to what they sent. The PO is obligated to send a copy to OFO, and should not have to request it. So, don't trust them, and send a copy of everything, as you can not trust what the PO sent.

To ME: m/3997

Regarding the "merits" of a case, merits is defined as the following by the Merriam Webster on-line dictionary.

"The substance of a legal case apart from matters of jurisdiction, procedure, or form." My layman understanding is that the merits are basically the facts applied to the law.

Thus, the Agency may simply be saying that you made legal arguments of fact and law when it states "complainant argues the merits of the case." The Agency always sends such a letter to the EEOC OFO when the OFO requests the record of investigation (i.e., the complete Agency EEO file), which is also known as the ROI. I have always responded to the Agency's response motions and refuted any new arguments that were raised because I have felt that the EEOC OFO could view my silence as an acceptance of the Agency's false contentions. In my humble experience however, the whole EEO process is biased in favor of the Agency and so what good filing sur responses does is not apparent to me. Nevertheless, at least your objections will be on the record.

Also, my understanding is that it is improper for a complainant to raise any new issues on appeal. Therefore, you may want to stick to refuting the Agency's bogus response contentions and reference the documents already in the ROI rather than submitting new documents.

Good Luck! I hope this helps!

thanks, Wake-up...

Gone Postal With Love.. i don't get it??? if i argued the facts applied by law??? isn't that what i was suppose to do??? that is what the PO did...

i wasn't sent a copy of the PO ROI (the complete Agency EEO file) so i can't dispute what po sent to Washington They only sent me a copy of their response (cc letter) to Washington... So the PO could have sent Washington nothing as far as i am concerned... if i sent everything i have to washington, i need at least 2 days to get all the paperwork in order... stress plays a factor in this.. and yes, i have an ongoing stress claim already... i feel i might have been able to get off my medication if not for the ongoing harassment from management.. i have asked my dr to lower the dose and she refuses.. she claims i should not be working at the po and should quit..
hmmmm.. if i submit the last 2 grievances alone... that might be enough... i want to submit also the paperwork showing all these people are well aware of my prior EEO claims right down to the human resourse management... do you think that will be enough??? i can get this out pretty fast also... what do you think????

i like to keep things short and to the point, this way things don't get complicated and also i have a tendency... when i start talking about all the harassment, po does i can go on and on and on and get off track...

In Nov '07 I was surveillance lifting items out of my car approximately under 10lbs. I made 12 trips back in forth from the home. I explained to OWCP of my hardship in writing that I needed assistance and that the monies that I have been waiting for for nearly 6 months from OWCP has increased my hardship. I moved the items for my 17 daughter whose had a major back surgery due to her scoliosis. I included all of that in my letter. I also called my postmaster, HR injury comp dept, my OWCP nurse on the day that I was faced with the crisis. However, the postal inspectors interrogated me in April'08 and my supervisor decides to terminated (misrepresenting the severity of my injury)in July(30 day notice). I filed EEO and a grievance. Any comments? I'm feeling so emotionally stressed now I need to feed my family. Can I filed for stress? If so what forms do I need to request if I have an ongoing OWCP claim?

Flowergirl/m4004
It’s typical for the Postal Service to engage in clandestine surveillance of its injured employees and then intimidate the employee, or the employee’s health care provider, into an admission that imposed work restrictions had been breached or violated. This “gotcha” moment usually puts the employee or health care provider into a kind of shock where they don’t know how to react. Mostly, the intimidation works. All of a sudden, when confronted with video tapes of their activities when away from work, employees realize that Big Brother is indeed watching. Certainly it’s natural human behavior to respond this way. One wonders what kind of trouble they may be in.
First – from an OWCP perspective – filing a false claim for compensation is a violation of law. Employees can, and have been prosecuted, fined and/or served time in jail for falsifying any claim in an attempt to obtain compensation. Any evidence acquired by the DOL or the employee’s employer is usually referred to an Assistant U.S. Attorney for prosecution. However, the evidence must demonstrate that the employee intended to falsely obtain compensation.
Second from a management perspective – falsifying any aspect of a workers’ compensation claim is a violation of Postal Service rules & regulations. These “falsifications” may not rise to the level of intent to unlawfully acquire compensation, so instead of being prosecuted the employee is disciplined or terminated from their employment.
But getting to the practice of video taping employees away from work, there are a number of issues that immediately come to bear. First, I would challenge the tapes authenticity. Who made the video tape? Was it law enforcement (i.e. Postal Inspectors)? Was it a contract investigator? Was the videographer trained or have an expertise in videography? If so, were any of the images photo-shopped or altered? When were the selected sections of video taken (dates and times); and where? How much video tape was taken over-all in order to acquire the snippets of video tape that is being relied upon? Who requested the investigation?
Health care providers need to realize, and articulate to any investigator, that any physical restrictions imposed (lifting limitations, stooping, bending or twisting restrictions, etc.) are to be defined as “work restrictions”, not necessarily life restrictions. For example, an employee may be limited to only 2 hours of driving. The Postal Service will interpret that to mean 2 hours of driving while at work. Seldom (unless otherwise specifically determined by the health care provider or OWCP), will the Postal Service count the commute time to and from work as part of the meaning of the restriction. Similarly, if an employee is limited to standing for four hours per day, is that standing for four hours in a 24 hour period, or four hours while at work? If you use up the four hours at work, are you allowed to stand while not at work?
With regard to the EEO aspect of this, you didn’t state on what basis you think you were discriminated against (race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, disability, or retaliation for prior EEO activity). If you allege disability discrimination then you need to be prepared to meet the definition of an individual with a disability under the Rehabilitation Act. If you are alleging another factor, then you need to be prepared to show that other employee(s), not of your same protected group or class, was treated differently, or more favorably than you were.
With regard to a stress claim with OWCP; again you need to meet the requisite evidence to show that the stress was directly related to your employment and was the result of managerial abuse. If you can show a malicious intent in investigating or video taping you, then perhaps you could persuade OWCP that you’re entitled to compensation. You will also need supportive medical evidence to show that the stress is directly related to those factors. If you intend to file you must complete form CA-2 within three (3) years from the known date of injury.

ive got news you dont have to be injured the po uses satellites
to watch people and harrass all the time. Especially at the las vegas nevada amc where i have my eeo filed.

50 cents/what can of satelites could the PO afford, or do they pay another govt agency for doing it.
Flower Girl/You need to request all vidio's, notes, all evidence they claim to have ASAP. When you say you called the agencies over the day of crisis (your daughter's accident?), and what did you tell the agencies. Work restrictions are as to on a regular basis. Just cause you did some moving one day does not mean you could do it 40 hours or 20 hours a week.
 

There is a CA5a (pretty sure it's the "a" for mental work restrictions as the ca-16 is irrelevant). And it all comes down to doctor doing the paperwork, a pshyciatrist board certified is best. You could use your regualar family practice doctor to get it started, or get a ref from your comp doctor.

/m4006 that you, Starkeep?