I Retired Before I Wanted to Retire
Traumatic Events
My tenure with the Post Office I received various injuries. I ended up having surgery on both of my hands for bilateral carpal tunnel. I have a C5, C6 injury in my neck I haven’t had any work done on, I just deal with the pain. To get all of these injuries approved, I went through a lot of drama. The Post Office denied a lot of the claims and I had to prove to the Department of Labor that these were actually injuries on the job. As a result, I walked into the Post Office a full person and I walked off an injured worker. I took the buyout three years ago. The reason I took the buyout is because they had an NRP (National Reassessment Program) and they were trying to get rid of all the people who were injured on the job. They had already walked out a number of people. This was nation-wide. You go to two meetings and the third meeting they tell you they don’t have any work available even although you already had been working there and it was a full time job and you had work. I showed them the area where I worked and there was work available but they said there was no work available for me. So, I was the next person to be walked out. They actually walk you out and they escort you to your locker. They have you clean out your locker and then they escort you to the door. It’s like you are a villain. And rather than them do that to me and me look like a villain, I chose to go with the buyout. I retired before I wanted to retire.
AUTHOR NAME: Bettye Maddox
