Year: 2025

This afternoon the EEOC issued a 38-page General Prehearing Order.  In this Order, the EEOC sets forth the standards and burdens and clarifies certain procedural and substantive issues that were raised during the pre-hearing conference process. 

While we are still continuing to review the Order in detail, our attorneys are very happy to see that many of our significant arguments prevailed over the Postal Service, including:

1. The Postal Service will not be permitted to use documents it failed to produce in response to the 2019 Case Management Order.  Significantly, the Postal Service failed to include any individual evidence for claimants in 2019. 
2. The Postal Service will not be permitted to use witnesses they failed to explicitly identify in the Prehearing Statement. 
3. A claimant’s modified position, not pre-injury position, is used as a basis for the essential function analysis. 
4. Postal Service will not be permitted to use documents it failed to produce in response to the 2019 Case Management Order to impeach witnesses at hearings. This means, they cannot try to show a witness a brand new document in an effort to show that something they said is not true. 

With this General Pre-Hearing Order, the Administrative Judges also simultaneously appealed the Order.  While this is not a super common occurrence, we believe this was done based on the objections raised during the pre-hearing conferences by the Postal Service’s attorneys.  The Postal Service repeatedly represented that they would appeal the decisions on issues like whether they could bring in new documents not previously produced in 2019.  Now, by the time hearings begin again, the Office of Federal Operations (OFO) would have already heard and decided the appeal, so the Postal Service would not be able to make those same arguments and further delay the process.  

That means, right now, everything is stayed pending that appeal.  We understand this may be frustrating, but we believe this Order is a significant step towards the overall hearings process!  We also believe that having OFO’s confirmation (or clarification) on the rulings is better to have now, than after the hearings which could potentially result in having to re-do hearings. 

Over the next few months, we will work through the hearing and of course keep you all updated as soon as we have a determination. At that time, we can better explain the next steps. 

We thank you all for your continued patience as we continue our path to justice!

We wish everyone a Happy New Year! 

As a recap, in 2024, the EEOC took an important step forward with the commencement of Pre-Hearing Conferences for a group of claimants selected by the EEOC. In advance of any Pre-Hearing Conferences with the Administrative Judges, the selected claimants worked with our attorneys to make written submissions to the EEOC. Shortly before the relief hearings were to take place, the EEOC postponed the hearings. The EEOC judges indicated that they needed time to work through issues raised during the Pre-Hearing Conference. 

As we enter 2025, we are hopeful that this additional time provides the EEOC the ability to work through issues to streamline the hearing and relief process. As soon as we hear about hearings being rescheduled or any other action from the EEOC, we will of course update everyone. 

As always, please update our offices if your contact information has changed. Feel free to email us at [email protected]. While the EEOC generally notifies claimants directly if selected for a hearing, as soon as we are aware, we also begin reaching out to claimants.  In order to reach you, we need your updated contact information!

As an additional update, in 2023, at the request of the USPS, the EEOC Administrative Judge dismissed a small group of claimants (approximately 281 individuals) finding that they were not part of the class because they were never assessed under the NRP. In making such a decision, the Administrative Judge relied upon the USPS’s records which indicated that these individuals were not assessed.  

Our attorneys filed an appeal of the dismissal of this group of individuals and in late December 2024, the EEOC agreed with the Administrative Judge that these claimants should be dismissed since they were not assessed under the NRP. While these individuals are not part of the NRP class action, they still had the ability to bring their own discrimination claims separate from the class action, if they had done so in a timely manner.  

Our attorneys have been in regular communication with those claimants impacted by this dismissal order in both 2023 and 2024. As long as your contact information is updated with our office, you would have received several communications advising you that you are part of this small group of claimants. 

Please continue to monitor this website for updates in the coming months.