Opinion ID: 200588
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Events underlying the claims against USPS

Text: 6 Throughout the OSHA complaint process, the agency assured Morales that his identity as an OSHA complainant would be kept confidential, and that federal law forbade USPS from retaliating or discriminating against him for whistle-blowing. Nevertheless, plaintiff's amended complaint alleges that by July 1995 other employees at the Caparra Heights station were aware that he had filed OSHA complaints, and were retaliating against him. That month, Morales alerted the Postal Inspection Service that he had received two threats from co-workers, but no remedial steps were taken. 7 In January 1996, plaintiff expressed interest in an available distribution and window clerk position with Saturdays and Sundays off. 1 USPS then allegedly reclassified the position to offer only Sundays and Thursdays off so as to decrease its desirability to plaintiff. On March 23, 1996, Enrique Lopez, the Caparra Heights station supervisor, issued a letter of warning to Morales for unsatisfactory performance, citing the plaintiff's abuse of coffee breaks. Two months later, Lopez removed Morales from his position as a Business Reply Mail Clerk, Postage Due Clerk and Express Mail Clerk, 2 and replaced him with a female co-worker. In July 1996, tires on Morales's car were punctured on two separate occasions while the car was parked in the secured Caparra Heights station parking lot. 8 On October 10, 1996, Morales's contact at OSHA informed him that the agency had no authority to protect postal employees from retaliation, and urged the plaintiff to request USPS to conduct an internal investigation. Without seeking Morales's consent, OSHA forwarded his file to the Postal Service, thereby confirming to USPS that plaintiff was in fact the whistle-blower. From that point on, the retaliation and discrimination directed at plaintiff worsened considerably. Morales alleged that in December 1996 he was victimized by episodes of name-calling and bullying, and later that month he was suspended one week for violating a new uniform policy instituted by Lopez. In January 1997, a postal employee poured sugar into the gas tank of plaintiff's car, nearly resulting in a traffic accident. On at least three occasions in February, plaintiff's supervisor dismissed him from work without pay because there was no work available for him. Finally, on February 20, 1997, plaintiff was transferred from the Caparra Heights station to the General Post Office in San Juan. Morales alleges that he was removed from the Caparra Heights station because co-workers accused him of being a safety hazard and a homosexual. 9 These events prompted Morales to file four Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) complaints with the USPS. 3 Plaintiff filed his first precomplaint on February 15, 1996, in the aftermath of USPS's decision to alter the allotted days off for the available distribution and window clerk position. His second EEO precomplaint, submitted April 25, 1996, alleged that a new coffee and lunch break policy instituted at the Caparra Heights station unfairly discriminated against male postal employees. After the USPS failed to respond to his first precomplaint, Morales filed a formal EEO complaint on April 3, 1996, alleging that USPS unlawfully retaliated against him by posting the available window clerk position with Thursday/Sunday rest days rather than Saturday/Sunday rest days. He subsequently filed a second formal EEO complaint on September 5, 1996, citing the discriminatory break policy and another episode of retaliation. Plaintiff finally left the employ of the USPS in early September 1997, allegedly as the result of a constructive discharge. 10