Confessions of a Former Postal Station Manager – Congressional Response
by Guy Nohrenberg
Surely your boss would never falsify or engage in fraud or schemes in order to get undeserved raises and bonuses. If they did, there is section of Federal Law called Title 18, which includes criminal penalties such as fines, and imprisonment of up to 5 years. It’s enforced too! Enforced, only, however, against Letter Carriers and craft personnel. So when a Letter Carrier engages in falsification or fraud, they’re out the door.
What about Executives?
Title 18 actually pertains to Executives!
This is where the problem lies. The Office of Inspector General and the US Postal Inspection Service do not pursue prosecution against Executives. Why? Because the OIG and USPSIS report to the Executives. There is no external unprejudiced Law Enforcement group that deals with such issues within the US Postal Service.
Now, I’m not saying all Executives are bad. In every organization, however, there are a few bad apples. Some are in very powerful positions. In my over 25 years of working in the US Postal Service I can testify to the fact that I have met hundreds of hard working good honest bosses. (Whether we carriers want to admit that or not). What happens,
though to the tiny percentage of Executives who do engage in criminal falsifications, fraud, or schemes? Can you really see an OIG agent asking to investigate his boss? Not his OIG boss, but the boss he reports to in the Operations part of the US Postal Service.
Ask yourself, too, why you’ve never heard of big bosses doing time for fraud or schemes other than financial theft. Have you ever wondered why you read in the news about people in Executive positions getting away with things a hundred times worse than you’ve gotten your last Letter of Warning for?
Well, I take real issue with it. A friend of mine, today, called me. I was told of some fraudulent activity that was going on and asked what they had done about it. The friend laughed and said, “What. So I can end up like YOU?”
Recently I wrote to my congressman. You should too! It’s easy, and it’s our right to do so. I wanted to know what he was doing about possible ethical and criminal violations within the US Postal Service. You can read my letter to him here:
Well. He responded.
Visit The Letter Carrier Connection full article (PDF).
we can not be prosecuted because I say so
RESPONDING TO REQUESTS FROM CONGRESS AND THE POSTAL SERVICE GOVERNORS
The OIG provides accurate and timely responses to requests from Congress and the
Postal Service Governors. The OIG responds to some of these requests by conducting audits or
investigations. However, the OIG does not generally perform audits or investigations when
an inquiry involves a non-systemic issue that may be resolved through existing administrative or judicial processes, such as the equal employment
opportunity complaint process, contractual grievance-arbitration procedures, or the Merit
Systems Protection Board. The OIG may conduct independent audits or investigations related to systemic issues affecting Postal Service programs and operations to help ensure their economy, efficiency, and integrity.
During this 6-month reporting period, the OIG responded to 29 Congressional and Governors’ inquiries. Appendix G of this report lists the OIG responses to these inquiries by subject area. See the September 30, 2003, Semiannual Report to Congress.
NOBODY SHOULD BE ABOVE THE LAW!!!
The OIG performs audits and investigations of NARA, its contractors, and its grantees, to promote economy and efficiency and to prevent and detect fraud, waste, and abuse. Twice a year the OIG’s provides a Semi-annual Report to Congress that details the work the OIG has done in the previous six months, including results of audits and investigations, proposed corrective actions and other accomplishments. It is available on the internet, please see the Postal Service OIG’s web page. In addition, NARA’s Office of Inspector General:
•Coordinates or recommends policies for agency activities and for relationships between NARA and other federal agencies to promote efficiency and prevent waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement
•Reviews proposed or existing legislation affecting the agency for impact on the economy and efficiency of operations
•Keeps the Archivist and Congress fully informed of fraud, serious problems, abuses, and deficiencies; recommend corrective action, and; report progress in implementing corrective action
•Reports suspected violations of federal criminal law to the appropriate personnel at the Department of Justice