May 23, 2021

P.S. Docket No. AO 20-297 and AO 21-297

In the Matter of the Administrative Offset Petition

BRIAN OTIS v. UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE

APPEARANCE FOR PETITIONER
Brian Otis

APPEARANCE FOR RESPONDENT
Patricia Schaefer
Labor Relations Specialist
United States Postal Service

FINAL DECISION

Brian Otis resigned from the Postal Service effective September 6, 2019, but the Postal Service continued to pay him.  The Postal Service generated a debt of $19,688.23 representing 640 hours for which it allegedly overpaid him.  Problematically, the 640 hours covered both before and after September 6, 2019.
The Postal Service then took, without due process (notice, document production, and hearing), $11,992.64 from Mr. Otis’s terminal leave payment.  The Postal Service then forwarded the balance to the Department of Treasury for collection.  In forwarding the debt, the Postal Service certified that Mr. Otis was provided with due process and that there were no legal impediments to collecting the debt.  Treasury sent Mr. Otis a notice that it intended to garnish his wages to collect the balance.  Upon receiving the notice, Mr. Otis petitioned for a hearing.
From the outset it was clear that the Postal Service had not followed its own procedures designed to provide due process when collecting the debt and then forwarded the balance to Treasury.  The parties quickly agreed at the beginning of the litigation that Mr. Otis was incorrectly paid for 280 hours after September 6, 2019.  In addition, the Postal Service sough to collect for Thrift Savings Plan payments it made after September 6, 2019, for Mr. Otis.
It took six months for the Postal Service to admit its errors and calculate the amount it owed to Mr. Otis.  The explanations for the delay were unpersuasive.  The problems were that no one within the Postal Service wanted to say (1) that Daniel Anschutz, the head of the Accounting Services Center, improperly certified the debt to Treasury, (2) the Postal Service deprived Mr. Otis of due process, (3) the Postal Service took too much money from Mr. Otis, and then (4) the Postal Service delayed in calculating the correct amount to be returned.  Ultimately, it took a hearing on the record to determine that the Postal Service owed Mr. Otis $3,543.45.  The Postal Service has since paid Mr. Otis the $3,543.45.

In summary, the Petition is granted.  I conclude that the Postal Service improperly took $3,543.45 from Mr. Otis which has been returned.

PETER F. PONTZER
ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE