A grade of B or higher, or a grade of pass in a pass/fail course, is required for all courses.
Employees who enroll in external training programs with a cumulative cost of $5,000 or more must complete and submit a Continued Service Agreement (CSA), which must be sent to the NPT and CFD mailbox (nptandcfd@usps.gov). The Continued Service Agreement form (with digital signature) is available online at External Training (https://blue.usps.gov/hr/training-development/external-training.htm) by clicking on Non-Postal Training or Centralized Funding for Development (CFD) Scholarship on that Web page.
Note: Employees who complete more than 5 external training courses within 3 consecutive years will be considered to be working toward completing an academic degree and will be required to complete a CSA if the total expenditure for the training is $5,000 or more.
Employees may be required to fulfill a certain period of service following their completion of external training. The commitment period begins immediately upon the completion of training.
Note: The status of employees who enroll in an executive-level graduate program (e.g., the Sloan Fellows Program) changes to “Executive in Training” upon enrollment. This becomes the participant’s work assignment and governs the terms and conditions of employment. A Sloan Fellow is responsible for reimbursing the Postal Service in accordance with the terms of his or her CSA if he or she does not complete the requisite year(s) of service.
The following events trigger an employee’s responsibility to reimburse the Postal Service for expenses that USPS incurred in connection with a training program, in accordance with, and unless specifically exempted by, the provisions of any related executed CSA:
- An employee fails to enroll in approved training or fails to complete initiated training successfully, as specified in 744.5.
- An employee voluntarily leaves the Postal Service for any reason other than non-career military service (including but not limited to regular retirement or involuntary termination) prior to completing the service that he or she agreed to in a training CSA.
For notice purposes, the employee’s supervisor or sponsoring officer shall provide written notification to the director of Learning and Development (via the NPT and CFD mailbox at nptandcfd@usps.gov) of the employee’s separation from the Postal Service or other event triggering the employee’s obligation to reimburse USPS for external training costs that the Postal Service incurred on the employee’s behalf.
The supervisor or officer may include a recommendation for the CHRO’s potential consideration as to whether:
- The employee should be required to reimburse the Postal Service; or
- Reimbursement should be waived in whole or part because recovery of the money would be contrary to equity, good conscience, or public interest.
The CHRO, or appointed designee, determines appropriate action on the employee’s reimbursement obligation. If the CHRO or designee decides to require reimbursement, Learning and Development notifies the Eagan Accounting Service Center (ASC) of the amount due by submitting PS Form 1902, Justification for Billing Accounts Receivable. The Eagan ASC bills the employee and collects the funds due to the Postal Service.
Employees who fail to enroll in, maintain minimum grades in, or successfully complete approved training for reasons that are unacceptable to the CHRO or appointed designee may be required to:
- Pay any cancellation fee that the training sponsor requires; and
- Reimburse the Postal Service for full costs or liabilities incurred for tuition, fees, books, supplies, transportation, and per diem (except salary) unless the employee failed to enroll in or complete approved training because the employee was performing non-career military service. In that case, the Postal Service may not request reimbursement of any costs or liabilities incurred.
The Postal Service reduces the amount provided for training by any amount that an employee receives from other sources for the same purpose, including payments received under the Government Issued (GI) Bill and other governmental education assistance programs.
Thus, the Postal Service will seek reimbursement for any training costs that the Postal Service previously paid, but for which an employee later receives payment from another source, such as scholarships or recruiting incentives from competing employers.
