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NAPS Newsbreak: District Court Rules that NAPS is Entitled to Discovery in Pay Lawsuit

NAPS recently won another victory in its pay lawsuit against the U.S. Postal Service when the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that NAPS is entitled to some discovery in its challenge of USPS pay actions. Prior to the decision, there had been no caselaw addressing whether discovery (that is, requests for documents and written questions that must be answered under oath) is available for a challenge to Postal Service action as violating the Postal Service Reorganization Act of 1970.

In a 20-page decision on August 15^th, senior district judge Royce C. Lamberth ordered discovery to proceed relating to the size and adequacy of the supervisory pay differential USPS paid to eligible EAS personnel as part of the 2016-19 pay package. The judge also ordered the Postal Service to identify which EAS labor-management personnel at Area and Headquarters facilities are purportedly ineligible for NAPS representation, in light of NAPS’s right to represent EAS personnel at those facilities (as confirmed by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in its 2022 decision). The judge limited discovery on private sector pay comparability, but left the merits of NAPS’s pay comparability claim to be decided later.

Earlier this week lawyers for NAPS and the Postal Service filed a proposed discovery order with the court that would establish a 90-day period for discovery. “We are pleased our case is moving ahead,” NAPS President Ivan D. Butts said, “and we remain confident that our rightful claims will be vindicated.”