CLEVELAND — New allegations of problems now coming out of the main Cleveland Post Office. Some postal workers said they’re not being paid correctly for overtime, and when they are paid, it’s with money orders.
“It makes me…It makes me very upset,” said Bre’Ahnna McNairy from Cleveland. She told us she had been working as a clerk at the main Cleveland Post Office for more than a year now. “I have some days where I don’t… I’m like is it even worth going to work today? Is it worth doing overtime because I’m not going to see the money,” McNairy said.
That’s one of the problems pointed out in a January 8, 2021 charge filed with the National Labor Relations Board against the USPS in Cleveland. It states the organization “failed to pay multiple employees” for overtime within the last six months.
“Look, I need my money. I work hard. I work a lot of hours,” said a woman we’ll call ‘Sharon’ because she didn’t want her identity revealed. She fears retaliation. But, she, too, said she has been working at the post office 12 hours a day, six days a week, and having problems with overtime pay with missing 15.5 hours one time and 18 hours the next. “One thing I don’t do is play with my money,” said ‘Sharon.’ “I worked. These are the hourly wages that I worked. This is what they told me it was going to pay.”
Both ‘Sharon’ and McNairy said they were given money orders to help offset some of their OT losses, and they were encouraged to cash those at the post office’s front counter. Plus, they said anywhere from 30%-35% was taken out for taxes, but the taxes were not specified line by line like a usual paycheck. “I ain’t never heard of anything like that before in my life,” said ‘Sharon.’
We were sent pictures of money orders from a third postal employee who also feared being on camera.
McNairy said managers told her the pay problems would all be taken care of. “‘We’ll figure out how much we owe you,’” said McNairy quoting her managers. However, so far, the workers said no solution has been found.
We asked the post office about the overtime complaint and the use of money orders. It never addressed those money orders but did send this statement:
“The Postal Service cannot comment on a matter pending for adjudication before the NLRB. Postal Service employees enjoy the ability to pursue remedies for matters such as this in the appropriate forum, and the Postal Service will not comment on allegations of this nature.”
Meanwhile, for some workers, they just want what they say they’ve earned. “I can’t keep up with how much you owe me,” said ‘Sharon.’ “You shouldn’t owe me anything. I should be paid as I work.”
“I do love my job, but I can’t continue to work without 100% pay,” McNairy told us.
A representative from the National Labor Relations Board said if a region finds merit to an allegation, it will issue a complaint and the accused party has 14 days to respond.
Since our last interview with McNairy, she told us she’s been fired from her job. She said she’s now fighting that through her union as well.
We’ll stay on top of this so check back for updates.
