Since our last conference with the EEOC, on December 11, 2023, our offices, along with the USPS, made submissions at the request of the Administrative Judge in order to assist her in the anticipated damages hearings.  While we have not yet heard from the Administrative Judge on the scheduling of hearings, our offices have begun to prepare so that we can move swiftly as soon as they are scheduled.  Through the administrator hired by the EEOC, the Administrative Judge posted the below update, which is very similar to the update we posted in December:

This matter is a nation-wide class action consisting of approximately 30,000 class members. The Commission is working diligently to review and organize each damages claim and all related documents in anticipation of our final damages determinations. This process is time-consuming and very detailed. Please know we are working very hard to ensure fair and equitable relief is afforded to every eligible class member. Claimants will be notified in advance of, and be provided the opportunity to participate in, any damages hearing on their claim. We thank you for your continued patience and understanding as we adjudicate this matter as expeditiously as possible.

Our offices have now sent a letter to the Administrative Judge requesting a status conference in order to learn more about the anticipated schedule, including for the damages hearings. While we have not yet heard back, we will of course update everyone as soon as we have more information. In the meantime, if your mailing address, telephone number, or email address has changed and you have not yet informed our offices, please make sure to do so promptly by emailing [email protected] or calling 585-272-0540.  Updating your contact information now, ensures that our offices can quickly contact you as soon when and if a hearing notice is used for you. 

As always, please continue to check this website for additional updates.

The Administrative Judge held a video status conference with us on December 11, 2023. The Administrative Judge confirmed that the EEOC plans to begin designating certain Claimants for hearings on their relief claims in 2024. The Judge stated that the EEOC will give the parties 60-90 days advance notice before any hearings, so we should know much more about what to expect prior to the hearings taking place.

We will continue to provide updates on this website, including reports regarding the scheduling of hearings. Please continue to monitor this website for updates.

The Administrative Judge held a video status conference with us on October 16, 2023. The Administrative Judge reported that the EEOC continues the process of preparing and reviewing files related to the claims. Much of the status conference was devoted to ensuring that the EEOC had a complete record of documents for the claims, and that the EEOC understood how the parties had organized and filed the case documents.

The Administrative Judge again reported that the EEOC plans to begin designating certain Claimants for hearings on their relief claims. The Judge plans to give the parties 60-90 days advance notice before any hearings, so we should know much more about what to expect prior to the hearings taking place.

We will continue to provide updates on this website, including reports regarding the scheduling of hearings.

The Administrative Judge has scheduled a status conference for Monday, October 16, 2023 at 11 am. Consistent with prior status conferences, unfortunately, claimants are not permitted to join/attend the conference. Please check the website (nrpclassaction.com) for updates following the conference.

On August 4, 2023, our offices submitted all relevant documentation on behalf of claimants with a claim number beginning with 200XXX (M-200XXX). The Administrative Judge has now granted a brief extension of time to submit any further relevant documentation on behalf of this group of claimants. As a reminder, the requested documents for this group of claimants is any and all documentation you have confirming you were assessed under the NRP between May 5, 2006 to July 1, 2011 and experienced harm during the stated time period. The types of documentation that may be responsive include but are not limited to:

• any Orders or Decisions stating that an EEO discrimination complaint you filed between 2006-2011 has or should be subsumed into the matter titled Sandra McConnell v. USPS, Agency No. 4B-140-0062-06; and/or
• documentation you received during the NRP review process between May 5, 2006 to July 1, 2011, including for example: (i) Employee Leave Information Letter, Partial Day; (ii) letter scheduling you to appear for a meeting to discuss the next step in the National Reassessment Process; and (iii) letter indicating Notice of No Work Available.

If you have not yet submitted the requested documentation, or have any additional documentation, it must be received by our office by no later than August 24, 2023. You may send the relevant documents via email at [email protected] or via fax at 585-272-0574.

For those claimants with a claim number beginning with 200 (M-200XXX), as we noted in our recent correspondence, we requested an extension for the Administrative Judge’s recent Order, however, no extension was granted. That means, consistent with the Order, our offices will submit all relevant documentation today. We will ask for the opportunity to supplement the record and add further documentation, but that is within the Administrative Judge’s discretion.

For anyone who may have received an email that looks like it came from me today, it was not actually sent by me, so I would recommend you go ahead and delete it. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.

The Administrative Judge held another video status conference with us on July 10, 2023. The Administrative Judge said that the EEOC plans to resolve in the next few months the pending procedural questions regarding whether certain Claimants were untimely in filing their claims. After that issue has been addressed, the Administrative Judge stated that the EEOC plans to begin designating certain Claimants for hearings on their relief claims.

On July 3, 2023, we filed a comprehensive response regarding our clients who had been identified as possibly untimely by the Postal Service. All available evidence regarding timeliness was submitted by us at that time.

The USPS attorneys attempted to slow down the process by seeking to submit new briefing in response to our July 3 submission. The Administrative Judge refused to allow for more delay, and told the Agency that any new argument on the matter would be stricken from the record.

Based on the Administrative Judge’s comments, we believe that we should see some real progress in 2023 toward EEOC decisions on some of the individual claims in this case. As always, please continue to monitor this website for updates.

The Administrative Judge has scheduled the next conference with our offices and the Agency for Monday, July 10th. The order setting this conference does not indicate the subject that the Judge intends to address. Please check back in on the website following the conference for an update.

As many of you are aware, USPS has argued that a number of claimants were untimely in submitting their initial claim form to the USPS P.O. Box in Greenwood Village, Colorado. USPS has argued that these identified claimants failed to meet the filing deadline beginning in approximately April/May 2018. We are providing this update regarding the latest developments in connection with the issue of alleged untimeliness.

By way of brief background, in or about January 2023, we attempted notification (via email and first-class mail, whenever possible) of each claimant represented by us who was identified by USPS as being potentially untimely. In other words, if you are represented by us and USPS identified your claim as allegedly untimely, then we reached out to you on that issue, and provided instructions to you. Of note, a majority of the claimants in this case WERE NOT identified by USPS as being allegedly untimely.

In June 2023, the Administrative Judge issued several Notices of Intent to Dismiss Untimely Claims of Relief. In these notices, the Administrative Judge states that unless claimants who were identified by USPS as potentially untimely can establish that their claims were timely or demonstrate good cause why they should be accepted even though they were untimely, such claims will be dismissed. Both parties have a deadline of June 30, 2023 to respond to the Administrative Judge.

The Administrative Judge has provided a spreadsheet to the parties, along with directions for organizing the information and documents in a specific manner for consideration by the Administrative Judge. Our offices are currently busy preparing such documentation/information for the Administrative Judge.

It should be emphasized that the Administrative Judge has not yet issued any final decisions regarding dismissal on the basis of untimeliness. We continue to advocate on behalf of all claimants who are represented by us.

If you have any questions about this issue, including whether your claim is on the untimely list, please contact us at [email protected] or 585-272-0540.