The right to wear shorts

The man who first allowed letter carriers to wear shorts passed away December 7. Anthony Louis Mondello was general counsel of the U.S. Civil Service Commission from 1968 to 1975, and according to his obituary in the Washington Post, he “helped to make federal workplace rules more compatible with a changing society”.

It was Mr. Mondello who made the decision to permit Postal Service employees to wear short pants in hot weather. He also eliminated McCarthy-era loyalty oaths as a condition of employment and worked to discourage discrimination based on sexual orientation.

And there’s a lot more- Mondello was one of those unsung bureaucrats who in fact made a difference- the Post quotes a colleague who described him as “one of the most honorable guys I’ve met in my life”.

Anthony Mondello; Worked for Rights of Federal Employees

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