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Postal Service reassigns DUI employee, but questions unanswered
Posted: Nov 13, 2009 1:11 PM by James Jarman
Updated: Nov 13, 2009 1:11 PM
The US Postal Service says it's taken action after seeing our hidden camera report on a letter carrier who lost his driver's license after a 2nd drunk driving arrest, and was then being driven around his route by other post office workers.
Even though the USPS initially defended the actions taken with the Colorado Springs letter carrier, after our story hit the airwaves and internet, the carrier was reassigned to an inside job.
Communications Programs Specialist Al DeSarro told News First 5 that the USPS "found other productive work for that letter carrier, he has been doing duties. Mainly I think in sorting of the mail back at his Post Office or another Colorado Springs station, in which he's still able to do productive work."
DeSarro is the friendly face of post office public affairs for the western region. He was told to speak with us, after we initially asked to speak with the USPS Office of Inspector General. It's website states that they "play a key role in maintaining the integrity and accountability of america's postal service, its revenue and assets, and its employees." They also employ "more than 1,100 auditors, investigators, and professional support personnel stationed in more than 90 offices to meet the challenge of preserving this trust."
But they weren't talking to us. Instead they told Al to talk to us.
DeSarro says he did talk to the USPS national office, but unfortunately he didn't have an answer for the big question we'd been asking about, "how often across the country does this type of letter carrier/DUI and driving around scenario happen?"
DeSarro told us the USPS doesn't "maintain those records on a national level, regional level, even on a local district level."
With 37,000 postal facilities in America, it appears we may never get an answer to that, or an answer to other questions. Including, how many DUI's can a letter carrier get before he/she loses their job or is permanently reassigned to an inside job?
DeSarro says they're sure this kind of thing is very rare. Right now in Colorado there are only 4 similar cases they could find. There are 3,500 letter carriers in our state.
The USPS contract with letter carriers does require the postal service to make every effort to reassign a driver who's driver's license was suspended or revoced. DeSarro said this situation might be re-evaluated with the letter carrier union.
"The contract is done on the national basis and I think that's something that's going to be reviewed, once the contract, current labor agreement ends that will be looked at," he said.
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