Federal Workers’ Compensation and Federal Disability Retirement Seminar

Seminar for:

• Employees
• Unions
• Advocates
• Attorneys
• Agencies
• Medical Providers

Friday, May 14, 2010, Oklahoma City, OK

Federal Workers’ Compensation (OWCP)

• Practical Step By Step to Obtain Your Rights!
• Get Medical Treatment Now and in the Future
• Get Scheduled Award Impairment Payments
• Overcome Denials and Harassment

Federal Medical Disability Retirement (OPM)

Seminar Location:
Sheraton Oklahoma City Hotel
1 N Broadway
Oklahoma City OK 73102

Special Room Rate:
800-325-3535 • 405-235-2780 • www.starwoodhotels.com

Education Credit: 8.0 Hour Certificate of Education
Oklahoma Bar Association MCLE: 8.0 Hours with 1 Hour Ethics

__________________________________________________

DOWNLOAD REGISTRATION FORM HERE

Agenda

8:30a-9:00a Registration

9:00a-9:50a – James R. Linehan, J.D.

Claims, Appeals, Advocate Fees, Ethics

• FECA Federal Employee Compensation Act
• OWCP Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs
• ECAB Employee’s Compensation Appeals Board
• Federal Regulations 10 CFR Part 10
• Title 5 USC 8101 et seq Decisions under ECAB

BREAK 9:50a-10:00a

10:00a-10:50a – James R. Linehan, J.D.

• Procedures and Statue of Limitations
• Compensation and Scheduled Awards
• Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility
• Attorney & Representative Advocate Fees
• Federal Medical Disability Retirement

BREAK 10:50a-11:00a

11:00a- 11:50a – Edward Daniel, FECA Advocate

What OWCP Claims Examiners Need

• Traumatic & Occupational Claims
• Five Basic Issues: 1. Timely Filing 2. Civil Employee 3. Fact of Injury 4. Performance of Duty 5. Causal Relationship: Caused or Aggravated

Noon During the provided lunch John W. Ellis, M.D.

• Harassment & Video Surveillance

1:00p-1:50p – Edward Daniel, FECA Advocate

• Temporary and Permanent Disability
• Case Examples

BREAK 1:50p-2:00p

2:00p-2:50p – John W. Ellis, M.D.

Practical Step By Step Federal Work Comp

• Getting Your Claim Accepted
• Choosing Your Physician & Getting Treatment
• Getting Paid Time Off Work
• Work Restrictions and Accommodations
• Getting Scheduled Award Impairment Payments
• Overcoming Denials or Second Opinion Exams

BREAK 2:50p-3:00p

3:00p-3:50p – John W. Ellis, M.D.

Medicine and Federal Workers’ Compensation

• Obtaining Pre-Authorization for Treatment & Reports
• Causation: The Required Reasoned Medical Rational

BREAK 3:50p-4:00p

4:00p-4:30p Scheduled Award Impairment Ratings
4:30p-5:00p Questions and Answers

_______________________________________________________________

Faculty

John W. Ellis, M.D. ˜ Occupational & Legal Medicine

Professor of Occupational and Legal Medicine, Oklahoma University School of Medicine. Dr. Ellis teaches Legal Medicine and impairment ratings to doctors, lawyers, unions & employees across the nation.

Fellowships:

American College of Occupational & Environmental Medicine
American College of Family Physicians

Board Certifications:

American Board of Environmental Medicine
American Board of Family Practice

Professional Certifications:

American Board of Disability Analysts – Analyst – Fellow
American Board of Forensic Examiners, Board Certified , Fellow
American Board of Forensic Medicine, Board Certified
American Board Independent Medical Examiners, Board Certified
American Board of Legal Medicine, Associate in Medicine

5100 N. Brookline Ave #465, Oklahoma City, OK 73112
(405) 917-5336 • Fax (405) 917-2250 • www.EllisClinic.com

James R. Linehan, J.D. ˜ Attorney at Law

Mr. Linehan received his Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering Technology at Oklahoma State University and his Juris Doctorate degree from the Oklahoma City University School of Law. He represents clients’ Federal disability, Federal Workers’ Compensation and Privacy Act claims before various Federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs, Office of Personnel Management, Merit Systems Protection Board and the Social Security Administration. Mr. Linehan is admitted to practice before the U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th and 10th Circuits, U.S. Court of Veterans Appeals and various Federal and state courts in Oklahoma.

4 N.E. 10th Street , Oklahoma City, OK 73104
(800) 266-9535 • Fax: 512-366-7247
linehanpc@gmail.com • www.line-hanpc.com

Edward Daniel ˜ FECA Advocate

Mr. Daniel received his Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration at Texas Christian University in 1977. He was an OWCP claims examiner in the Dallas District office from 1977 to 1982 and later served with the OWCP Quality Control Unit as the office congressional liaison, as claims manager and as manager of the Vocational Rehab/Claims Unit. From 1994 to 1997 he was involved in several projects that focused on specialization of claims to make the adjudication process more efficient. In 1997, he joined forces with the law firm of Bannerman & Williams, establishing the Federal Employees Compensation Law Center to represent OWCP employees nationwide.

133 Vista Drive, Willow Park, TX 76087
(817) 441-7247 • Fax (817) 441-9046 • edwarddaniel@att.net

DOWNLOAD REGISTRATION FORM HERE

Postal Service Seeks Change in Service Classification

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Postal Service today is filing a request with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) to change the designation of some Post Office Boxes from monopoly to competitive designation – a move to allow greater flexibility to meet the needs of customers.

The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 split Postal Service products and services into two categories, market dominant (monopoly) and competitive. Those products and services for which other providers compete with the Postal Service were categorized as competitive. P.O. Boxes currently are listed as market dominant and are subject to a price cap based on the rate of inflation.

“Success in the marketplace demands speed and flexibility. Moving some P.O. Boxes into the competitive product category will give the Postal Service greater flexibility to meet the emerging needs of customers and to respond more quickly to changing market dynamics,” said Robert F. Bernstock, president, Mailing and Shipping Services.

Earlier this month, Postmaster General John E. Potter outlined an aggressive plan of action that included cost cutting, increased productivity, and an array of legislative and regulatory changes necessary to maintain a viable Postal Service for decades to come. Potter also indicated the Postal Service will avail itself of the opportunities under current law to increase revenue and enhance customer service. Today’s filing with the Postal Regulatory Commission is a part of that strategy.

The filing seeks to move about 32,000 existing P.O. Boxes in 49 Post Offices from the current market dominant classification into the competitive class of products. This will allow the Postal Service to test consumer interest in enhancements to the current P.O. Box offering and will help shape future Postal Service P.O. Box service and access strategies. Each of the affected sites is within a half mile of a competing box service provider and all provide door delivery to all addresses within their ZIP Code area.

Less than one half of 1 percent of all Post Office Box service would be affected. There are more than 13 million P.O. Boxes in more than 30,000 Post Offices across the country.

There is no time limit for the PRC to review the filing. The PRC can approve or deny the request to change the classification or request that additional research be conducted by the Postal Service.

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

PHYSICIAN PLEADS GUILTY TO HEALTH CARE FRAUD OFFENSE

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) has investigated many fraudulent workers’ compensation claim cases. Most of these investigations involve postal employees scamming the system. But, employees aren’t the only ones who abuse the system. Sometimes, medical providers used by postal employees injured on the job, defraud and abuse the system. A few seek to take advantage of this program by submitting false bills, colluding with claimants to extend benefits, or falsifying claim documents. But OIG Special Agents, along with the Department of Labor OIG, found an orthopedic surgeon in New Orleans with a scam of his own.

The surgeon, who operated a medical practice in New Orleans, claimed to have performed health care services after Hurricane Katrina when his office was not even open! Forty-seven of the claims involved names of postal employees. The surgeon pled guilty in federal court to fraud and has agreed to pay $750,000.00 in restitution. He also faces a possible maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 at his sentencing in May.

DR. WINDSOR DENNIS, age 78, and a resident of New Orleans, Louisiana, pled guilty in federal court today before U. S. District Judge Ivan L. R. Lemelle to one count of health care fraud, announced U. S. Attorney Jim Letten.

According to court documents, DR. DENNIS, an orthopaedic surgeon who operated a medical practice in New Orleans, billed the U. S. Department of Labor, Office of Worker’s Compensation, for health care services he claimed to have performed after Hurricane Katrina when his office was not open. He has agreed to pay $750,000.00 in restitution to the U. S. Department of Labor.

DR. DENNIS faces a possible maximum sentence of ten (10) years, a fine of $250,000 and three (3) years of supervised release following any term of imprisonment. Sentencing has been scheduled for May 26, 2010.

Daniel R. Petrole, Acting Inspector General, United States Department of Labor, stated:

“This plea is the result of collaboration by several Federal agencies working together to root out workers’ compensation fraud and bring those responsible to justice. We will continue to detect and quickly respond to fraud schemes perpetrated against the Department of Labor programs.”

David C. Williams, Inspector General for the U.S. Postal Service, added”

“Today’s plea and restitution agreement by Dr. Windsor Dennis is a significant victory in the ongoing battle against fraudulent workers’ compensation claims. The workers’ compensation program benefits thousands of postal employees who have received legitimate on-the-job injuries. But false claims, particularly by health care providers, undermine the system.”

The case was investigated by the Offices of Inspector General for the United States Postal Service and the United States Department of Labor. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U. S. Attorney Patrice Harris Sullivan.

For a viable Postal Service: USPS must have flexibility to manage its workforce efficiently

The Postal Service has been named the most trusted government agency for five consecutive years. This annual survey of Americans found that the ranking is tied directly to the trust customers place in their letter carriers.

But the changing face of the Postal Service makes workforce changes inevitable.

“We want to make sure we’ve got the right people in the right place at the right time — and have the flexibility to deal with the changes in demand in the coming years,” says PMG Jack Potter. “That will make us more efficient, by making sure we’re serving our customers when they need us and where they need us. We’ll be focusing on this during the upcoming rounds of collective bargaining.”

The Postal Service of the future will be different, according to Potter, but its action plan for the next decade will continue to drive commerce, serve communities and deliver value. A few highlights of workforce changes include:

• A leaner workforce better aligned with changing customer needs will be achieved through attrition and working with labor unions and management associations to optimize the workforce.
• The large number of expected retirements through 2020, coupled with upcoming labor negotiations, presents a unique opportunity to establish a more flexible workforce.
• The financial health of the Postal Service should be taken into consideration by an interest arbitrator during the collective bargaining process.

Source: USPS

As you have heard, the OIG, in Janaury 2010, found that USPS overfunded the CSRS retirement fund by some $75 billion. As a retired CSRS employee I was curious as to whether or not there was ANY possiblity that postal CSRS contributors could have somehow been overcharged as well. So, I wrote the OIG and the following is their response to my inquiry. However, I still think that the most important thing to remember is that if USPS was overcharged for their CSRS contributions then this money needs to be immediately refunded to USPS…helping with our bottom line.

Hi Rick,

Great question. I checked with our research people who did the white paper, here is their response:

You raise an important issue of the employee contributions into the fund. Both the Postal Service and employees paid into the CSRS fund the standard agency contributions (usually 7 percent each). However, over the years, the Postal Service was also required to make extra payments into the fund. These additional payments for salary increases and retiree COLAs were sizeable. In some years, these extra payments were larger than the total amount of the combined employee and agency contributions.

While the Postal Service and postal employees were paying into the fund, Postal Service employees were also retiring and receiving retiree benefits from the fund. The OIG’s white paper on the overcharge does not deal with the Postal Service’s payments to the fund as much as these payouts to Postal Service employees. Many of these retirees had many years of service for the federal government under the Post Office Department.

The white paper argues that the Postal Service’s share of the fund was overcharged for these payments to retirees. The federal government should have picked up a higher share of the payouts if they were split based on the employee’s years of service. In other words, the paper argues that if an employee worked half of his career with the Postal Service and half with the Post Office Department, the Postal Service’s part of the pension fund should pick up half of the cost of the pension payouts, and the federal government’s part of the pension fund should pick up the other half. Right now, the federal government’s fund pays much less than this.

We estimate that if the federal government’s fund was charged the appropriate share of payments to retirees, there would be $75 billion more in the Postal Service’s pension fund.

The CSRS agency and employee contribution percentages are set by law. The percentages are not calculated or determined by OPM, and we did not look at this issue in our paper. However, it’s important to note that if only the CSRS employee and agency contributions had been made, the Postal Service’s pension fund would still be significantly underfunded.

[End of OIG Letter]

Rick Owens
Postal Employee Network

March 3, 2010

Five-Day Postal Delivery Hurts Rural Areas

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (MO-08) responded to an announcement that the U.S. Postal Service will seek to drop one day of home delivery in an effort to offset budget shortfalls. Emerson, who represents the mostly-rural Eighth Congressional District in Southern Missouri, says the reduction of delivery days would adversely affect residents of her part of the state.

“There are many, many considerations the U.S. Postal Service must take into account before making a decision about removing a day from the weekly mail delivery to American homes and businesses,” Emerson said. “Especially in rural areas, the timeliness of financial information, bills to be paid and even deliveries of medicine by mail is important. Many of our daily rural newspapers rely on six-day delivery to get their news to their customers. And I am also concerned that the postal service is focused on cutting back service and potentially losing millions of customers rather than finding long-term solutions to these budget woes.

“In an urban area where the post office is right around the corner, these issues might not be so severe, but for residents of rural areas like Southern Missouri the nearest post office might be miles away. On top of the challenges of getting to a nearby post office is the fact that many of these rural facilities are threatened with closure every year,” Emerson said.

The content of Emerson’s letter to the U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission is attached:

Nowhere in the nation do Americans appreciate the regular, personal, efficient service of the U.S. Postal Service than in rural areas of the country. I am honored to represent the rural Eighth Congressional District of Missouri, and the intention to limit mail delivery to five days per week would directly and adversely affect thousands of the constituents I serve. I appreciate and understand the severity of the financial difficulties facing the U.S. Postal Service, but I remain opposed to the reduction in postal delivery for reasons I hope to explain in this letter.

First, the opportunity to walk to the corner post office is not a luxury many Americans in rural areas enjoy. The nearest postal facility where people in rural areas can rent a box or go to drop off their outgoing mail may be several miles from home. Elderly and disabled residents in these rural counties rely on the Postal Service to come to them, because they often cannot go to the Post Office.

Newspapers in rural areas, too, rely on six-day delivery to communicate the news of their communities to residents of their circulation areas. Many of these are papers of record, and many more daily papers would lose advertising revenue by being forced to drop one issue per week.

Another issue arises during inclement weather situations, which we in Southern Missouri have experienced more than once in the last year. Ice and snow do sometimes make regular postal delivery impossible. The loss of one more day in the week which would otherwise allow carriers to make up for the delay in service is a further impediment to customers with bills to mail and correspondence to send.

In addition, under certain circumstances, a day’s delay in postal services can mean a two-day delivery becomes a five-day delivery. This is especially concerning when the mail contains a supply of medicine or time-sensitive financial information. I remain very concerned about the unintended consequences of delaying delivery of certain envelopes and parcels to all of the USPS’s customers.

Finally, I am not convinced that the USPS has adequately pursued alternatives to reducing delivery to five days. Other options exist, namely, executive salary reductions, better-negotiated vehicle acquisitions for the USPS fleet, concessions from the groups representing Postal Service employees who also wish to see the USPS return to profitability, and cost-cutting measures that would further streamline postal operations.

For these reasons, the FY2010 Financial Services Appropriations bill contains language requiring the USPS to maintain six-day delivery. I would like to insist that this language be adhered to by the USPS and the Postal Commission and encourage you to reconsider this decision. It is extremely important to your customers in rural areas of the country like Southern Missouri. Thank you for your kind consideration.

Very sincerely,

JO ANN EMERSON
Member of Congress

The following article/opinion was submitted to Postal Employee Network anonymously and does not necessarily reflect our views or opinion.

I am a letter carrier and a shop steward for the NALC. I have some knowledge of the inner workings of the Postal Service and served on the MIARAP process both as a local office contact as well as on the District Evaluation and Adjustment Team to evaluate and consolidate routes in the **** District (distrtict name removed by PEN). I have been a letter carrier starting as a casual in 1992, a transitional in 1993 to a part time flexible to a full time regular.

Being that I have worked out of the district office for the better part of the last 8 months I have seen first hand what goes on. The level of oversight and managerial justification is obscene. The implementation of technical items like FSS (OIG report suggested that FSS be scrapped that the money will never be recouped) implementing GPS in postal vehicles with monitoring. MSP points, DOIS and all their other abbrevations. The Postal Service has become nothing more than management justifying their own jobs by adding more jobs to watch craft employees.

The management constantly violates the contract for self-imposed rules to meet bogus criteria. When grievances are filed they happily pay the penalty because it still means their criteria has been met. The postal service has what is known as a 5 O’Clock rule. They want all carriers to have their deliveries complete by 5 PM. To accomplish this they will pay a regular senior carrier double time to assist a transitional employee making $18 dollars an hour so that transitional will make 5 pm. Meaning that the postal service will pay $52.00 an hour to help the help because of a self imposed 5 O’Clock rule!! This happens constantly.

Management will spend 20 minutes arguing over a 5 minute deviation of schedule. Issue discipline on that 5 minutes costing time to the carrier, management, the shop steward as well as NALC rep and the DRT to settle it. This is not an exaggeration. The amount of money wasted on bogus discipline and managerial oversight must be close to a billion dollars a year.

Letter carriers are constantly harassed by unskilled improperly trained supervisors and managers that in many instances could not do the job, which is why they went into management. The ASP program was a futile effort in trying to improve management, unfortunately somehow it just got worse.

The amount of waste at the Headquarter level is mind boggling. There is even a speech writer!! The Postmaster General earns $265,000 General Counsel $153.000, Judicial Officer $163,000, Senior VP Customer relations $193,000, Senior VP Strategy & Transitions $187,000, President mailing & Shipping Services $232,500, Chief Human Resource Officer $230,000, Senior VP Operations $186,500, VP & Managing Director Global Business $164,312, VP Delivery and Post Office Operations $165,235, VP Facilities $181,400, VP Network Operations $175,000, VP of Engineering $163,446, VP Area Operations $189,500, VP of Corporate Communications $170,000, VP of Consumer Advocate $173,000, VP of Pricing $170,000, VP Retail Poducts and Services $164,312, VP Sales $180,400, VP Expedited Shipping $170,000, International Postal Affairs Specialist $107,190, Speech Writer $107,000, Capital Investment Specialist $97,296, VP Employee Resource Management $179,000, VP Development & Diversity $176,300, VP Labor Relations $177,000, VP Supply Management $181,000, VP Controller $174,250, VP Sustainability $175,000, Deputy Postmaster General $240,000.

These are actual salaries before bonuses and everyone of these positions received a bonus package. That brings just the top people at headquarters in Washington D.C to a staggering and ridiculous $5,294,641 in just salary, this does not include benefits for 30 employees. This is CIVIL SERVICE!! Let me not even start with the homes that are purchased for management relocation costs.

The waste and expense that management pays management is the cause of the downfall of the United States Postal Service, not union contracts or the employees that are giving 110% each and every day! Mr. Potter is not only dead wrong but is the cause!

This marks the third time the Postal Service has been overcharged. In 2002 it was determined the Postal Service would overfund CSRS by $78 billion. Legislation in 2003 corrected this overfunding. Then it was determined the Postal Service was overcharged $27 billion for CSRS military service credits. In 2006 these funds were returned to the Postal Service by Congress, and the surplus was used to fund retiree health care liabilities.

This study, The Postal Service’s Share of CSRS Pension Responsibility, undertaken in conjunction with the Hay Group, is the third paper sponsored by the OIG that delves into the financial entanglements between the Postal Service and the federal government — generally at the expense of the Postal Service. The latest study describes the inequitable allocation of CSRS costs between the federal government and the Postal Service. The other two reports focus on the Postal Service’s congressionally-mandated retiree health care prefunding payments (Estimates of Postal Service Liability for Retiree Health Care Benefits), and the Postal Service’s interaction with the federal budget (Federal Budget Treatment of the Postal Service).

In this newly released paper, the OIG and Hay Group’s analysis demonstrates that the method used to determine how CSRS pension costs for postal employees with service before 1971 are split between the Postal Service and the federal government is inequitable. As a result, the Postal Service was overcharged by $75 billion for payments to CSRS retirees from 1972 to 2009. The OIG suggests that this amount be returned to the Postal Service’s CSRS pension fund. Any excess above what is needed to fund CSRS liabilities could then be transferred to the Postal Service’s retiree health care fund, which would fully fund its health care liability and eliminate the need for further congressionally-required payments to the fund. All of the Postal Service’s current pension and health care obligations to its employees would then be fully funded.

The report further illustrates the inequity in the methodology used to determine the Postal Service’s contribution to the CSRS fund. Key findings from the report:

• Hay Group demonstrates that the method of splitting CSRS pension costs for postal employees with service before 1971 between the Postal Service and the federal government is inequitable, because the Postal Service is made responsible for all salary increases after 1971.
• In effect, OPM calculates the federal government’s share for these employees as if they retired in 1971 at their much lower 1971 salaries. An allocation methodology that burdens the Postal Service with all post-1971 pay increases is not reasonable.
• As an example, Hay Group shows that the Postal Service could be charged 70 percent instead of 50 percent of the pension costs for employees who worked half their careers with the Post Office Department and half with the Postal Service.
• Because of the inequitable split, the Postal Service was overcharged $75 billion from 1972 to 2009.

The report also offers solutions:

• Fixing the split by using a more equitable years-of-service approach would leave the Postal Service with $75 billion more in assets as of the end of 2009. The CSRS pension fund is currently underfunded by $10 billion, so the resulting pension surplus would equal $65 billion.
• The $65 billion pension surplus could be added to $35 billion already set aside in the retiree health benefits fund for a total retiree health fund balance of $100 billion.
• A fund balance of $100 billion is more than enough to fully fund accrued retiree health benefit liabilities of $87 billion. No further payments to the fund would be needed to cover this liability.
• The current annual payments of more than $5 billion mandated by the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) could end.
• Payments for the premiums of current retirees could start to come from the fund immediately.
• The annual evaluation of the Postal Service’s retiree health benefit assets and liabilities would continue, and the Postal Service could be assessed if there were any unfunded liability.

This report takes on increasing significance as the Postal Service faces a challenging future. When the Postal Service was established, it was intended to be self-sufficient. Clearly delineating and separating the Postal Service’s responsibilities from those of the federal government will help in determining the true costs of funding postal operations. Citizens and businesses should pay no less and no more than what is required to fund the Postal Service’s operations.

UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE, Plaintiff-Counter-Defendant-Appellee,

v.

AMERICAN POSTAL WORKERS UNION, Miami Area Local (MAL), Defendant-Cross-Claimant-Counter-Claimant-Cross-Defendant,

ONE SEVEN TWO HOLDING ASSOCIATION, INC., (“172″), Defendant-Cross-Claimant-Cross-Defendant-Counter-Claimant-Cross-Defendant,

UNITED NATIONAL LEARNING ACADEMY, INC., (“UNLA”), Defendant-Cross-Claimant-Counter-Claimant-Cross-Defendant-Appellant.

No. 09-12287.

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

March 3, 2010.

Before DUBINA, Chief Judge, FAY, Circuit Judge, and EDENFIELD,[ 1 ] District Judge.

PER CURIAM:

The United National Learning Academy (“UNLA”) appeals the district court’s entry of summary judgment in favor of the United States Postal Service on the Postal Service’s claim for ejectment.

We review a district court’s grant of summary judgment de novo. Midrash Sephardi, Inc. v. Town of Surfside, 366 F.3d 1214, 1222—23 (11th Cir. 2004). Summary judgment is appropriate where there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Id. at 1223 (quoting Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)).

The United States Postal Service owns property at 2194 N.W. 72nd Avenue, Miami, Florida. The Postal Service entered into a ground lease with the American Postal Workers Union, Miami Area Local (“the Union”) for a portion of the property. The Union constructed a day care facility on the property and subsequently entered into a lease managing agreement with UNLA whereby UNLA would operate the day care facility.

In granting the Postal Service’s motion for summary judgment, the district court found that the Union’s assignment of the ground lease to UNLA was unenforceable due to Florida’s Statute of Frauds, Fla. Stat. § 725.01 (2003). The district court reasoned that there was no contractual relationship between the Postal Service and UNLA, and, therefore, the Postal Service’s termination of the ground lease was valid.

The Postal Service makes several arguments in this appeal; however, to avoid the thorny questions presented by the application of the Florida Statute of Frauds to the facts of this case, we agree with the Postal Service’s argument that the assignment here was invalid under Florida Statute § 689.01, which requires that a transfer of leasehold interest in land for a period longer than one year must be in writing and signed by the party transferring the interest in the presence of two witnesses. Here, because the parties did not comply with § 689.01, there was no transfer of interest in the property. See generally Skylake Ins. Agency, Inc. v. NMB Plaza, LLC, 23 So. 3d 175 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2009). Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s grant of summary judgment on the basis that there was no valid assignment of the ground lease.

AFFIRMED

USPS Seeks Flexibility on Operations, Delivery; Possible 2011 Price Increase

WASHINGTON — Facing unprecedented volume declines and a projected, cumulative $238 billion shortfall during the next decade, Postmaster General John E. Potter today outlined an aggressive plan of cost cutting, increased productivity, and an array of legislative and regulatory changes necessary to maintain a viable United States Postal Service.

“The crisis we’re facing gives us an historic opportunity to make changes that will lay the foundation for a leaner, more market responsive Postal Service that can thrive far into the future,” Potter said, stressing that there is no one single answer or quick fix to the crisis.

The Postal Service examined revenue, volume and consumer trends; analyzed revenue and product opportunities employed by foreign posts; and examined more than 50 possible actions to realistically address volume declines that will not return, increasing health care and delivery costs, and dramatic changes to consumer behavior.

“The future depends on a suite of solutions that takes a balanced and reasonable approach, one that cuts across every aspect of our industry but one that, in the end, does the greatest possible good for our stakeholders and the American public,” Potter said.

Mail volume is projected to fall from 177 billion in 2009 to 150 billion in 2020. That represents a 37 percent decline in First-Class Mail alone. Revenue contributed by First-Class Mail will plummet from 51 percent today to about 35 percent in 2020.

“Ensuring a Viable Postal Service for America,” the Postal Service business plan, addresses these challenges, and describes a flexible, agile Postal Service that can adapt to America’s changing mailing habits and preferences.

If the Postal Service takes no action, it will face a cumulative shortfall of $238 billion by 2020. But Potter outlined a number of actions that could amount to as much as $123 billion in savings during that same time period. These actions build on the Postal Service’s record of saving more than $1 billion every year since 2001 and include continuing to aggressively control costs and eliminating hundreds of millions of work hours.

Despite these efforts, an estimated $115 billion shortfall will remain. The business plan identifies actions to close that gap:

• Restructure retiree health benefits payments to be consistent with what is used by the rest of the federal government and the majority of the private sector and address overpayments to the Postal Service Civil Service Retirement System pension fund.
• Adjust delivery days to better reflect current mail volumes and customer habits.
• Continue to modernize customer access by providing services at locations that are more convenient to customers, such as grocery stores, pharmacies, retail centers, and office supply stores. Increase and enhance customer access through partnerships, self-service kiosks and a world-class Website.
• Establish a more flexible workforce that is better positioned to respond to changing demand patterns, as more than 300,000 employees become eligible to retire in the coming decade.
• Ensure that prices of Market Dominant mailing products are based on demand for each individual product and its costs, rather than capping prices for every class at the rate of inflation.
• A modest exigent price increase will be proposed, effective in 2011.
• Permit the Postal Service to evaluate and introduce more new products consistent with its mission, allowing it to better respond to changing customer needs and compete more effectively in the marketplace.

“Lifestyles and ways of doing business have changed dramatically in the last 40 years, but some of the laws that govern the Postal Service have not. These laws need to be modernized to reflect today’s economic and business challenges and the dramatic impact the Internet has had on American life,” Potter said.

The business plan is a path to the future, the Postmaster General said, a future where the Postal Service remains a vital driver of the American economy, an integral part of every American community and continues to deliver the greatest value of any comparable post in the world.

“If given the flexibility to respond to an evolving marketplace, the Postal service will continue to be an integral part of the fabric of American life,” Potter said.

For more information, fact sheets, soundbites and graphics, please visit:
http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/2010/pr10_018.htm