United States Postal Service, (2023)

• Date: 15 August 2023

372 NLRB No. 119

NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication

in the bound volumes of NLRB decisions. Readers are requested

to notify the Executive Secretary, National Labor Relations Board,

Washington, D.C. 20570, of any typographical or other formal

errors so that corrections can be included in the bound volumes.

United States Postal Service and Teresa Janice Boyd.

Case 12–CA–271025

August 15, 2023

DECISION AND ORDER

BY CHAIRMAN MCFERRAN AND MEMBERS WILCOX AND

PROUTY

On June 7, 2022, Administrative Law Judge Ira Sandron

issued the attached decision. The General Counsel filed

exceptions and a supporting brief, and the Respondent

filed an answering brief.

The National Labor Relations Board has delegated its

authority in this proceeding to a three-member panel.

The Board has considered the decision and the record in

light of the exceptions and briefs and has decided to affirm

the judge’s rulings, findings, and conclusions only to the

extent consistent with this Decision and Order.1

The complaint alleges that, sinceabout October 7, 2020,

the Respondent has failed and refused to assign and sched-

ule employee Teresa Boyd to a full-time limited duty as-

signment with 40 work hours per week and instead has

scheduled her for 1.5 hours of work, 5 days per week.2

Based on an evidentiary ruling, discussed in more detail

below, the judge limited his consideration of the evidence

related to the alleged violation to that occurring on or after

October 9, 2020. Having done so, applying Wright Line,3

the judge concluded that, since July 26, 2021, the Re-

spondent has violated Section 8(a)(3) and (1) of the Act

by not offering Boyd a full-time 8-hour per day, 40-hour

per week work schedule due to her Section 7 activity. The

judge thus ordered the Respondent to make Boyd whole

for losses of earnings and other benefits she suffered as a

result of the Respondent’s discriminatory denial of work

hours. No party excepts to the judge’s finding in this re-

gard and, in the absence of any such exceptions, we adopt

that finding for the reasons stated by the judge.

As explained below, however, the General Counsel ex-

cepts to the judge’s decision to limit his consideration of

the evidence before him and contends that the judge

should have found that the Respondent unlawfully failed

1We have amended the judge’s conclusions of law and recommended

remedy consistent with our findings herein. We shall modify the judge’s

recommended Order to conform to our findings and to the Board’s stand-

ard remedial language, and we shall substitute a new notice to conform

to the Order as modified.

2On January 25, 2022, the Regional Director for Region 12 issued an

Order amending the complaint in this proceeding. For conciseness, we

refer to the amended complaint as the complaint in this decision.

to provide a full-time work schedule to Boyd since Octo-

ber 7, 2020, as alleged in the complaint—approximately

ten months earlier than the date of the violation found by

the judge. We find merit in the General Counsel’s excep-

tions and, considering the entirety of the record evidence

here, we find that the Respondent has violated Section

8(a)(3) and (1) by failing to offer Boyd a full-time work

schedule since October 7, 2020. We thus order the Re-

spondent to remedy the violation to that date.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The facts are more fully set forth in the judge’s deci-

sion.4 As relevant here, the Respondent operates postal

facilities nationwide, including facilities in Tallahassee,

Florida. The National Association of Letter Carriers,

Branch 1172, AFL–CIO (the Union) represents city letter

carriers and city carrier assistants operating out of facili-

ties in the Tallahassee, Florida area. The Respondent has

employed Teresa Boyd since August 1998, and she has

been a city letter carrier for over 18 years. Boyd has held

various positions with the Union, including serving as

president and chief shop steward since 2018. The judge

found that Boyd has filed over 200 grievances and numer-

ous unfair labor practice charges in her capacity as a Un-

ion official.

During her employment, Boyd has sustained several

work-related injuries and, at various times, has received a

limited duty job offer (also known as a “2499 modified

assignment”) to accommodate those injuries. To create a

2499 modified assignment, management relies on a duty

status report form (CA-17 form), which an injured em-

ployee can obtain from the employee’s supervisor and

have completed by a physician. The employee submits the

completed CA-17 form to the employee’s supervisor, who

provides a copy to the Respondent’s Occupational Health

Claims Office (OHCO) and the Department of Labor

(DOL). Management then conducts a search for limited

duty work within the restrictions set out by the physician

and determines what work is available. Based thereon,

management prepares a 2499 modified assignment, which

the OHCO reviews to ensure that the duties do not exceed

the medical limitations.

As detailed in the judge’s decision, in February 2015,

Boyd suffered a neck and back/lumbar sprain injury (987

claim), and, in October 2016, she sustained a broken

3251 NLRB 1083 (1980), enfd. 662 F.2d 899 (1st Cir. 1981), cert.

denied 455 U.S. 989 (1982), approved in NLRB v. Transportation Man-

agement Corp.,462 U.S. 393, 399-403 (1983).

4In this decision, we have summarized the relevant facts as found by

the judge and, based on uncontroverted record evidence, have set forth

additional facts related to matters the judge did not address.