Several comments posted in response to the story of Lee Schechinger, the carrier fired for playing the state lottery on his lunch break suggested that there had to be more to the story- and they were right.

According to records of the Iowa Unemployment Insurance Appeals Section, Schechinger had been a full time city carrier until he was fired in April 2005 for “falsification of United States Post Office documentation”. As the result of a “last chance” agreement, he was reinstated. The agreement required that Schechinger “be an exemplary employee and failure to meet any of the requirements as listed in his last chance agreement would result in his discharge”. Schechinger’s subsequent removal for gambling was grieved, and according to the Iowa agency, “the discharge was upheld by the union”.

Iowa Unemployment Insurance Appeals Decisions – SCHECHINGER V. US POSTAL SERVICE

The web’s a wonderful thing- after reading yesterday’s insane story about a rural carrier who got fired for playing the lottery on his lunch break, I did a little news search- and found this press release in a couple of seconds. I’ve removed the names to avoid getting another poor schmuck fired:

xxxxx, Dec. 12 /PRNewswire/ — xxxxx, a postal worker from xxxxx, became the first xxxxx player to win the $100,000 top prize when he successfully matched all xx numbers on Friday.

Last Friday, during his lunch hour, Mr. xxxxx decided to give the new Lottery game a try for the first time. He bought just one ticket, a “xx” at the xxxxx at xxxxx Street in xxxxx.

In xxxxx, xx numbers from a field of xx are computer generated and results of drawings are displayed at five minute intervals on television monitors where tickets are sold. Players try to match from xx numbers, so Mr. xxxxx was going for the biggest prize with his $1 xx play.

Mr. xxxxx randomly marked the xxxxx on his play slip. Five minutes later, he became the first player to win the xxxxx jackpot when all ten numbers he chose appeared on the display monitor. Today, he collected his $100,000 at the Lottery’s xxxxx prize payment center.

Mr. xxxxx has three grown sons, two of them married. He is an employee of the U.S. Postal Service at the xxxxx in xxxxx.”

A search on the individual’s name didn’t reveal any indication that he had subequently been fired. In fact, I haven’t been able to find any news stories telling of a postal employee being fired for buying a lottery ticket on his lunch hour.

While Azeez Jaffer escaped responsibility for $46,256.68 in “questionable expenses”, the USPS fired a rural carrier for winning $1,000 at an instant lottery machine while he was on his lunch break.

TouchPlay win gets postman fired