No Miranda rights for postal employees?
Do postal employees have the right to remain silent when questioned by members of the Inspection Service, or agents of the USPS Inspector General? No. That’s the surprising assertion made by IG David C. Williams in a letter to APWU Director of Industrial Relations Greg Bell.
Williams was responding to an article by Bell in the November/December 2005 issue of the APWU’s American Postal Worker magazine, entitled ‘What’s Behind the Changes in Internal Investigations?’. Bell wrote that “You have the right to remain silent. A historic Supreme Court ruling (Miranda v. Arizona, 1966) holds that not only must a law enforcement officer advise an individual of certain rights, the officer must be sure that these rights are understood.”
In his letter, Williams responds “I am concerned that the article incorrectly states that APWU members have an unequivocal right to remain silent during an interview by the Office of the Inspector General by virtue of Miranda v. Arizona. The article suggests that OIG agents must provide Miranda warnings to all employees prior to their interview, and that the employee may always refuse to answer questions absent a grant of immunity. This is incorrect.”
Which, not surprisingly, provoked a response from Bell.
‘What’s Behind the Changes in Internal Investigations?’