Letter of Demand
On occasions management may overpay Letter Carriers. When this occurs The Postal Service seeks to recover the overpayment by filing an “Employer Claim”. The overpayment to a letter carrier can occur for a Varity of reasons. Some of the more often seen reasons include, but not limited to failing to withhold the correct insurance premiums, placing an employee in the wrong step after a change in grade or asking for reimbursement from a carrier for continuation of pay for a claim that was filed by the carrier for a traumatic injury, which was later denied by the Department of Labor. Article 28 of The National Agreement and Section 437 of The Employee and Labor Relations Manual (ELM) protects Letter Carriers who find themselves in this situation.
Article 28 requires that management in advance of any money demand upon an employee for any reason, the employee must be informed in writing and the demand must include the reasons therefor. Management will in all likelihood look to meet this requirement by presenting the Letter Carrier with a “Letter of Demand.” It is highly recommended that if you are a Letter Carrier who receives a “Letter of Demand” that you should contact your Shop Steward immediately in order to file a grievance. Article 28.4.A prohibits the Postal Service from collecting a debt, regardless of the amount or type of debt, until all grievances concerning the debt have been resolved.
A Letter of Demand is what management will present to a letter carrier who The Postal Service believes was overpaid in order to try and substantiate the employer claim. In addition it must be noted that usually prior to a letter carrier receiving a Letter of Demand from management a carrier may receive a Statement invoice from the USPS Disbursing office Accounting Service Center in Eagan Minnesota. It is recommended that if any carrier receives such a Invoice statement that they do not write a check for the alleged amount owed by the carrier because it does not meet the requirements in Article 28 to substantiate what the dept or overpayment is for.
When a Letter Carrier receives a Letter of Demand it is not the responsibility of the Letter Carrier to show that you do not owe the money. It is the Postal Service’s responsibility to prove that you do. If any Letter Carrier should receive a Letter of Demand you should demand that the Postal Service prove the alleged overpayment by providing you with a complete accounting including supporting documentation demonstrating why the letter carrier is indebted and how the amount of any alleged indebtedness was derived at.
If after it is determined by a letter carrier, that he or she really was overpaid as sometimes happen, the letter carrier has a right to file for waiver of claim for overpayment. This provision is derived from The ELM 437.6 and is explained on pages 28-2 and 28-3 of the JCAM cited below.
Waiver of Employer Claims. Many employer claims involve mistakes in which carriers were overpaid. Section 437 of the ELM gives carriers the right to file for waiver of a claim for overpayment. This section, titled “Waiver of Claims for Erroneous Payment of Pay,” outlines the steps that carriers must follow to request a waiver.
Under this process the carrier files PS Form 3074, Request for Waiver of Claim for Erroneous Payment of Pay. ELM Section 437.32 states:
Section 437.32 PS Form 3074
The applicant requests a waiver of a claim or a refund of money paid as a result of a claim by submitting PS Form 3074, Request for Waiver of Claim for Erroneous Payment of Pay, in triplicate to the installation head. The completed PS Form 3074 must contain:
a. Information sufficient to identify the claim for which the waiver is sought including the amount of the claim, the period during which the erroneous payment occurred, and the nature of the erroneous payment.
b. A copy of the invoice and/or demand letter sent by the Postal Service, if available, or a statement setting forth the date the erroneous payment was discovered.
c. A statement of the circumstances that the applicant feels would justify a waiver of the claim by the Postal Service.
d. The dates and amount of any payments made by the employee in response to the claim.
The installation head investigates the claim, and writes a report of the investigation on the reverse side of the PS Form 3074. The report should contain the data and/or attachments indicated in the ELM Section 437.4. The form is then forwarded to Human Resources for
review and further completion. The entire file is then sent to the Eagan Accounting Service Center (ASC). ELM Section 437.6 provides that:
Section 437.6 Action by Eagan Accounting Service Center
The Eagan ASC waives the claim if it can determine from a review of the file that all of the following conditions are met:
a. The overpayment occurred through administration error of the Postal Service. Excluded from consideration for waiver of collection are overpayments resulting from errors in timekeeping, key- punching, machine processing of time cards or time credit, coding, and any typographical
b. errors that are adjusted routinely in the process of current operations.
c. Everyone having an interest in obtaining a waiver acted reasonably under the circumstances, without any indication of fraud, misrepresentation, fault, or lack of good faith.
d. Collection of the claim would be against equity and good conscience and would not be in the best interests of the Postal Service.
Nothing contained in Section 437 of the ELM precludes an employee from requesting a waiver where the employer erroneously failed to withhold any employee insurance premiums (Step 4, Q98N-4Q-C 00187353, September 20, 2001, M-01446).
Lastly it must be noted that if management denies a waiver request, the letter carrier should see their Shop Steward, as the denial may be made the subject of a separate grievance.
