"OSC filed a complaint for disciplinary action with the Merit Systems Protection Board charging a rural mail carrier in California with violating three provisions of the Hatch Act when, 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. 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. In a settlement agreement, the carrier admitted that OSC would have been able to prove that she violated three provisions of the Hatch Act—the prohibitions on engaging in political activity while on duty or in the federal workplace and the prohibition on using one's official authority to interfere with or affect the results of an election. The carrier agreed to resign from USPS and accept a one-year debarment from federal employment as a penalty for violating the Hatch Act. ..."
This Article is From: U.S. Office of Special Counsel
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