APWU Arbitration Award Secures Grievance Rights for Separated Non-Probationary Employees

The APWU has secured a major victory for the rights of non-probationary employees who are discharged without just cause from the Postal Service to file grievances on those discharges and have them heard in arbitration, Industrial Relations Director Charlie Cash announced.

On June 30, Arbitrator Margo Newman gave the postal unions, led by the APWU, a decisive win on the proper arbitration procedure and standard for non-probationary employees who are separated without just cause because of their National Agency Check with Inquiries (NACI) background check results, USPS v. APWU et al., Case No. 6X 21C-6X-C 3281423 (Newman 2025).

Director Cash filed the APWU’s national dispute over the Postal Service’s recent practice of claiming that non-probationary employees, who are terminated because of “unfavorable” initial employment background checks, cannot have their removals reviewed in arbitration. The other postal unions – the National Association of Letter Carriers, the National Postal Mail Handlers Union, and the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association – joined the APWU in arbitration to contest the Postal Service’s practices. 

Arbitrator Newman held that: “(1) A grievance protesting the separation/removal of a non-probationary employee based upon an unfavorable NACI [background check] report is substantively arbitrable under Article 15, and that (2) in such arbitration, the Postal Service must prove that it had just cause for the separation/removal under the principles of Article 16.”

Arbitrator Newman disposed of a Postal Service argument about whether the national dispute itself was substantively arbitrable, finding that it was. Regarding the underlying issue, she noted that the language of the APWU National Agreement only prohibits probationary employees from accessing the grievance and arbitration procedure and that the definition of a grievance is “very broad.”  As she found, “absent any clear prohibition against filing a grievance protesting a non-probationary employee’s separation/termination of employment for receiving an unfavorable NACI, such grievance would fit the definition of a dispute related to conditions of employment which involves the application of, or compliance with, provisions of the Agreement.”  Arbitrator Newman dismissed the Postal Service’s management-rights arguments and found that “the Postal Service is obligated by its Rules and Regulations to make an individual assessment concerning suitability and continued employability when it receives notice of an unfavorable NACI of a non-probationary employee.”  She held ultimately that “absent any clear language exhibiting an intention of the parties to exclude this type of dispute from the coverage of Article 15, I conclude that the matter is substantively arbitrable.”

Turning to the second issue about the applicability of the Article 16 just-cause standard to a background check grievance, Arbitrator Newman dismissed the Postal Service’s arguments that the removals were administrative and not disciplinary and that the Postal Service’s hiring process limited a non-probationary employee’s contractual right to just-cause review in arbitration.  Relying on the contract and postal handbooks and manuals, Arbitrator Newman held that “I conclude that a post-probation separation for receipt of an unfavorable NACI can be considered disciplinary in nature so that the just cause standard of Article 16 applies.”

“This is a huge win for employees, whether they are career or non-career, who have earned the right to access the grievance arbitration process. Our contract grants them the right to challenge a non-probationary discharge, which must be for just cause, and this award again affirms that right,” said Industrial Relations Director Cash. 

This victory could not have been achieved without the work that was done in the field to help develop the national case. Many local grievances were filed. Manchester Area Local President Dana Coletti was an important witness to explain the issue to the arbitrator.

In accordance with the National Agreement,  any regional cases held behind this national dispute should be remanded and can proceed to arbitration on the merits of whether the Postal Service had just cause to remove a non-probationary employee because of the findings in their NACI background check.  The Postal Service told the APWU that it will not process the regional cases at this time while it analyzes the decision. The APWU will continue to press the Postal Service to process the cases held in abeyance. The APWU will vigorously defend this award and fight to have it implemented as written.