Tuesday, August 31, 1999
Postal worker claims reverse discrimination
BY BEN L. KAUFMAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A former supervisor is suing the postal service, saying he was demoted because he is white and his bosses wanted to appease black workers at the Bulk Mail Center in Sharonville.
Worse, says Robert N. Hauck, disciplinary procedures were corrupted by postal service politics because the punishment he was to receiveescalated from a warning letter to a 14-day suspension to dismissal, then back to demotion and a pay cut.
His suit, filed recently by attorneys Marc D. Mezibov and Michael N. Budelsky in U.S. District Court, seeks unspecified damages and reinstatement to his supervisor position.
Monday, spokeswoman Bonni Manies said the postal service does not comment on lawsuits.
Mr. Hauck of Montevista Drive, Finneytown, says his problem began on Dec. 27, 1997, when he told some part-time employees to leave the break area and go to work.
Among those who ignored him was a black woman, who remained seated “with her head resting on her hand and her eyes closed,” Mr. Hauck's complaint said.
Thirty minutes later, she hadn't moved and “appeared to be sleeping or was otherwise inattentive to what he was saying,” the complaint said.He “nudged the bottom of her foot with his foot with just enough force to awaken (her) or to get her attention.”
Mr. Hauck says his action was “well within the ambit of acceptable conduct by a supervisor faced with a non-responsive employee.”
The woman complained to her union, and Sharonville police were called. A charge of disorderly conduct against Mr. Hauck was dismissed in mayor's court.
The union steward filed a grievance and told the plant manager and postmaster general he was deeply concerned by what he said was management “racism” and violence against minority employees. The complaint says the steward also accused Bulk Mail Center managers of a coverup.
A distribution manager investigated and recommended a letter of warning because Mr. Hauck had touched another employee.
The complaint quoted the distribution manager as saying he received numerous calls from the union, conceded that his “concern is to protect the USPS,” and changed his recommendation to dismissal because of improper conduct.
A district manager of human resources said the facts did not necessarily support the firing.
The distribution manager rewrote his recommendation, and the plant manager designated another executive, Richard Hohenstatt, to make the decision about discipline.
Mr. Hohenstatt recommended a 14-day unpaid suspension, then reduced that to a letter of warning, but Mr. Hauck was demoted instead.
He sued after thefederal Merit Systems Protection Board denied his appeal
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