Reassessment Underway for Limited Duty Jobs

Don Herzog, Complement Coordinator for the South Jersey District, says that in the past the Postal Service may have made work for people on limited duty, but that it can no longer afford to do so.

Nationwide, the Service has 33,000 employees on limited duty. In South Jersey alone, there are 170 people or so who are in the National Reassessment Program.

Only people who have reached their maximum level of medical improvement (MMI) are eligible to participate in the program.

Herzog says the Service has been gathering information about what work needs to be done in all AO's and plants within the entire South Jersey district. Then the service began the laborious task of matching that work to the physical limitations of workers. So far, the SJ District has offered positions to 30 employees who had reached MMI in less than a year. Within a month it plans to start examining those employees who have reached MMI in more than a year. There are 140 of those workers in South Jersey . .

According to Herzog, every effort is made to give workers a job in their own facility and within their own craft and tour. But if work is not available for them, they may have to work in another facility (within a 50-mile radius), or work in another craft and during a different tour.

People on light- and limited-duty submitted the following questions about the National Reassessment Program. Here are the answers to those questions.

How does management determine who gets offered a job?
Permanent job offers are based on whether or not a person has reached his or her maximum level of medical improvement. Only people who have reached this level are even eligible to be considered for a job.

Will light- and limited-duty employees be excessed to other offices?
First of all, the National Reassessment Program is looking at limited-duty MMI workers only. Employees on light duty, i.e., those who do not have a job-related injury, are not part of the program. Limited duty workers may be excessed to other offices if there is no work for them within their own office or plant. These workers may be placed in offices anywhere within a 50-mile radius of where they currently work.

How many positions will be available?
That's difficult to say. The Service is looking at work that has to be performed. Some of that work does not take a full eight hours to perform.

When will the reassessment resume?
The program was never stalled. The Service has been gathering information on the work that needs to be done. Within the month it will start interviewing workers who have reached MMI greater than one year.

Will the Service start with mail handlers or clerks?
The program doesn't work that way. The Service is matching physical limitations with the work it has available. When it makes a match, a job will be offered. It doesn't matter if the worker is a mail handler, clerk or letter carrier.

Does seniority play a role in who gets a job?
No. Jobs are offered based on physical limitations and work available.

Is the Service offering any limited-duty workers early retirement?
No.

Is the Service making a deal with Wal-Mart for limited duty workers to become greeters in those stores?
No. Employees who have reached MMI may be eligible to participate in the Department of Labor's vocation rehabilitation program. The DOL trains employees to perform new jobs based on their physical limitations. That might mean sitting at a computer terminal all day and entering data. It all depends on a person's physical limitations.

What is the union doing to make sure every decision made within the National Reassessment Program is contractual?
The union has filed a national-level grievance because it believes that the program violates Article 13 of the National Agreement. The local unions have also filed grievances and continue to do so with each new infraction. These grievances are in various stages of the filing process.