In the Matter of the Petition by                                 )
                                                                                )
MICHAEL J. MASSIE                                                )
57 Hooper Street                                                     )
                                                                                )
                                                                                )
                                                                                )
Port Jefferson Station, NY 11776-3803                  )    P.S. Docket No. DCA 98-357

APPEARANCE FOR PETITIONER:                            Charles Scialla
                                                                                Scialla Associates, Inc.
                                                                                453 Preakness Avenue, #5
                                                                                Paterson, NJ 07502-1121

APPEARANCE FOR RESPONDENT:                         Charles J. Spina
                                                                                 Labor Relations Specialist
                                                                                 United States Postal Service
                                                                                 P.O. Box 7401
                                                                                 Hauppauge, NY 11760-9401

FINAL DECISION ON PETITIONER'S MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION UNDER THE DEBT COLLECTION ACT OF 1982

Petitioner has filed a timely motion for reconsideration, pursuant to 39 C.F.R. §961.9, of the November 25, 1998 Decision in this Petition. Respondent has submitted a response to Petitioner's motion.

In the Decision, I determined that Petitioner was liable to repay the Postal Service $1,052.82 resulting from a shortage in his accountability at the Farmingdale, New York Post Office. In his motion, Petitioner repeats arguments previously raised that he was not properly trained before assuming responsibility for the reserve stock at the South Branch of the Farmingdale Post Office and that he was denied the right to seal the drawer of one of his clerks immediately after a particular stamp stock transaction (between Petitioner and that clerk) that may have contributed to the shortage.

There is no merit to Petitioner's arguments. In the Decision I found that Petitioner had received adequate training before being assigned the responsibility of stamp stock custodian. Petitioner now argues that there is a requirement to also train stamp stock custodians in procedures used to audit window clerks. However, Petitioner has not demonstrated that there is such a requirement or shown that his lack of training in audit procedures contributed to the shortage in his own accountability.

The evidence in the record of this Petition demonstrates that the postmaster, once he learned of possible discrepancies in Petitioner's accountability, acted promptly to audit both Petitioner's and a clerk's accountability to uncover possible causes of Petitioner's shortage and to give him credit for the overage discovered in the accountability of a clerk who received stamp stock from Petitioner.

Accordingly, Petitioner's motion for reconsideration is denied.

William K. Mahn
Administrative Judge