NAPS Chat Bob Levi

During this week's episode of NAPS Chat, Joy Sazone, Research Specialist at the Postal Service Office of Inspector General (OIG), talks with Bob about a recently issued OIG "White Paper" on the investment of Postal Service pension funds. Joy was the lead author of the White Paper. In part, the paper suggests that had past CSRS and FERS contributions been invested in stock and bond index funds, the value of the USPS and employee contributions would have grown to $1.2 trillion, rather than the current balance of $298 billion. Under current law, CSRS and FERS contributions must be invested in low-yield U.S. Treasury
securities. Joy and Bob discuss the implications of a change in investment strategy.

During this week's episode of NAPS Chat, Bob Levi discusses the imminent introduction of a Senate companion to H.R. 3005, the Postal Police Reform Act, by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard Durbin (D-IL); the May 17 House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on Government Operations and the Federal Workforce hearing, at which Postmaster General DeJoy testified; and the Postal Regulatory Commission's ongoing "Public Inquiry" into the USPS Sorting and Processing Center initiative.

During this week's episode of NAPS Chat, Karla Kirby, the U.S. Postal Service's Executive Manager for the Postal Service Health Benefits
Program, joins Bob Levi to discuss the new postal health program, which will be effective  January 1, 2025. Karla and Bob discuss the status of the emerging program, its implementation, collaborative efforts to educate USPS employees and retirees about it, and what to expect as the plan rolls out.

During this week's episode of NAPS Chat, NAPS Executive Vice President Chuck Mulidore joins Bob Levi to discuss the recently concluded NAPS legislative conference in Washington, DC. Chuck and Bob discuss how conference attendees assessed the different elements of the 2023 NAPS Legislative Training Seminar, congressional engagement, and how NAPS fared on Capitol Hill. 

During this week's episode of NAPS Chat, Frank Albergo, president of the Postal Police Officers Association, joins Bob Levi to discuss the postal crime wave and how to reduce it. The escalation in postal-related crime, including assaults on USPS personnel, mail theft and mail fraud, concurrent with the 2020 USPS
operational change to limit the law enforcement authority of postal police to the perimeter of USPS-occupied property, raises questions about the agency's commitment to employee safety and mail security. Postal police are the uniformed members of the Postal Inspection Service, the nation's oldest law enforcement entity.

During this week's episode of NAPS Chat, Nick Reaves of Yale Law School's Free Exercise Clinic joins Bob Levi to discuss an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court, Groff v. DeJoy. The case involves the allegation the USPS failed to accommodate the religious  beliefs of one of its employees. On behalf of Yale, Nick filed a "friend  of the court brief" in support of former Rural Carrier Associate Gerald Groff, whose strict religious practice of not working on Sundays, his Sabbath, conflicted with the delivery of Amazon packages. Groff was disciplined for not showing up for work on Sundays. Nick and Bob discuss how religious observance and the Postal Service's unique mission may be calibrated. The Supreme  Court will hear the case on Tuesday, April 18, and can be heard here.