The US Postal Service is expected to announce the appointment of Northeast Area VP Tim Haney to replace Jerry Lane as Vice President for the Cap Metro Area. Lane was “separated” from the USPS after an incident at the Dulles VA Processing and Distribution Facility resulted in police being called, and Lane being charged with assaulting the Plant Manager. Haney has been Northeast Area VP since 2006. Before that he was the Capital District Manager for four and a half years. 
In 2001 Haney was the manager of the Brentwood Processing and Distribution Center, which processed the anthrax contaminated letter addressed to Senator Tom Daschle. Two employees at the facility later died from anthrax. Although postal officials insist they acted responsibly based on the advice given them by the Centers for Disease Control, a group of employees sued the USPS, along with Haney and Postmaster General Jack Potter for damages, claiming there lives had been endangered. According to the Federal Times, the suit alleged that
postal officials kept Brentwood open for four days when they knew the facility was contaminated, which the Postal Service denies. The suit said the Postal Service wanted to avoid losing $500,000 for each day the facility was closed. The suit also alleges managers threatened employees who questioned the safety of the facility and lied to employees about the degree of contamination.
The suit noted that the Senate offices and even the Capitol were shut down almost immediately after the Daschle letter was found to be contaminated, while Brentwood continued on its 24/7 schedule.
On Thursday, October 18, 2001, all buildings on Capitol Hill were closed and quarantined. USPS officials, including Brentwood Plant Manager Timothy Haney and USPS Senior Vice President Deborah Willhite, met that morning with Senate representatives. According to notes kept by Mr. Haney, he privately advised Ms. Willhite that “‘the mail was leaking and that we were affected.’”
During that same morning, USPS was notified that the Centers for Disease Control (“CDC”) had confirmed that a letter carrier in New Jersey, where the Daschle letter had been mailed, was suffering from cutaneous anthrax. However, during a morning press conference at the White House, Postmaster General Potter assured the public that the mail was safe.
In the early afternoon, the Postmaster General held a second press conference in an unused section of Brentwood, where he again told the news media and employees in attendance that Brentwood was safe. When Plaintiff Vincent Gagnon attempted to ask a question at the press conference, a Postal Inspector prevented him from doing so. Mr. Gagnon – who had clocked out to attend the press conference – then returned to work, where his supervisor informed him that “she had been directed [by Plant Manager Haney] to initiate proceedings to fire him for going to the press conference and trying to ask questions.”
The case was dismissed when the court found that the employee’s exclusive recourse was the Federal Employees Compensation Act, although the Judge noted that “If the facts are as alleged, the conduct of USPS managers would appear commendable for their dedication to getting the mail out but deplorable for not recognizing the potential human risk involved…”.
Click here to read the text of the lawsuit.
