In the Matter of the Petition by 	) October 16, 1996       
                                 	)
TAMMY L. PAULHAMUS               	)
7733 Wildwood Ct                 	)
                                 	)
        at                       	)
                                 	)
LaVista, NE 68128-3042           	) P.S. Docket No. DCA 96-329

APPEARANCE FOR PETITIONER:		Tammy L. Paulhamus
					7733 Wildwood Court
					LaVista, NE 68128-3042

APPEARANCE FOR RESPONDENT:		Coleen McMurphy
					Labor Relations Representative
					United States Postal Service 
					1124 Pacific Street, Rm 317
					Omaha, NE 68108-9401

Petitioner, Tammy Paulhamus, a window clerk at the Papillion Post Office in Omaha, Nebraska, filed a Petition for hearing on written submissions after receiving a PS Form 3239, Payroll Deduction Authorization, on August 15, 1996. This form indicated that the Postal Service intends to withhold $226.24 from Petitioner's salary

to cover a shortage in her accountability, based on a December 8, 1994 audit.⁽¹⁾ The record includes Ms. Paulhamus' Petition and accompanying documents, received on August 22, 1996; Respondent's Answer and accompanying documents, received on September 10, 1996; and three sworn statements of witnesses filed by Respondent in response to a September 12, 1996 Order. Petitioner declined to submit any additional documents in response to that Order. I have also considered the case file from an earlier petition by Ms. Paulhamus concerning this same alleged debt, which petition was dismissed on July 26, 1996 (P.S. Docket No. DCA 96-143).

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. On November 21, 1994, Supervisor James Mowinkle opened the safe room at the Papillion Post Office and found $203 in stamp stock (two $29 coils and one $145 coil) on top of the safe. At the time, no one claimed credit for this stock and it has never been determined who left it there.

2. On December 8, 1994, a count of Petitioner's stock showed a shortage of $226.24, and a count of another clerk showed a shortage of $161.98. Both Ms. Paulhamus and the other clerk agreed to the respective counts of their stock. Each then claimed credit for the $203 found on November 21, 1994.

3. Petitioner was issued a Letter of Demand for $226.24 on December 8, 1994. The case wended its way through the Grievance process, and on March 1, 1996 union and management agreed to credit the two clerks with the $203, in proportion to their shortages. This reduced Ms. Paulhamus' debt to $108.50, and she was issued a new Letter of Demand for that amount on April 13, 1996.

4. The Postal Service did not issue Ms. Paulhamus a Notice of Involuntary Administrative Salary Offsets, but nevertheless began to withhold pay. On April 27, 1996, Ms. Paulhamus filed a Petition for hearing under Debt Collection Act procedures. The Postal Service moved to dismiss the Petition because no Notice had yet been issued, and also stated that any money that had been prematurely withheld would be returned to Ms. Paulhamus. Ms. Paulhamus did not oppose this, and the case was dismissed on July 23, 1996.

5. On August 15, 1996, Petitioner received the aforementioned Form 3239 and filed the current Petition.

6. There is nothing in the case file to explain, with any degree of certainty, where the $203 in stamp stock found on November 21, 1994 came from, or why Ms. Paulhamus and the other clerk were short on December 8, 1994.

7. PS Forms 3294, Cash and Stamp Stock Count and Summary, submitted by Petitioner, show that her account was within tolerance levels (either very small overages or very small shortages) on three counts before the December 8, 1994 count, and on six counts since that date.

DECISION

The applicable standard of liability is found in Handbook F-1, Post Office Accounting Procedures, subsection 132:

The postmaster consigns postal funds and accountable paper to other employees. Employees are held strictly accountable for any loss unless evidence establishes they exercised reasonable care in the performance of their duties.

In the case of an unexplained loss, as in this case, the term "strictly accountable" means that to establish a prima facie case for liability, the Postal Service must only prove that there has been a loss and that the person charged was accountable for the stock from which the loss occurred. The Postal Service is not required to prove any specific dereliction or act of negligence by the employee. The burden then shifts to the employee to show that he, or she, exercised reasonable care.

Petitioner does not dispute the fact that, as a window clerk, she is accountable for stamp stock assigned to her, or that her account was short $226.24 on December 8, 1994.⁽²⁾ When a properly conducted inventory, or audit, shows a stock shortage relative to a previously established balance, this constitutes proof of loss unless other evidence raises sufficient doubt about the accuracy of the inventory count or the previously established balance. There is no such evidence in this case. The issues to resolve, therefore, are whether Petitioner exercised reasonable care and, if not, what is the proper amount of liability.

The only evidence presented to show that Petitioner exercised reasonable care is that pertaining to the other counts of her stock. I find the counts taken after the one in issue, December 8, 1994, to be not relevant at all to whether she used reasonable care prior to that date. The three earlier counts, while they may provide some indication as to how she performed her job, are not sufficient to establish that she exercised reasonable care as to her account immediately preceding the December 8, 1994 inventory. On the other hand, her claim that the abandoned $203 was hers, although not sufficient to credit it to her account, is some indication that she may not always have exercised reasonable care.

I find it unfair, however, for Respondent to now charge Petitioner for the full amount, $226.24, after having previously issued her a Letter of Demand for $108.50, beginning to take the money without issuing her the required Notice, and then moving to dismiss her petition because it was prematurely filed. Accordingly, the Petition is sustained in part and denied in part. Respondent may collect $108.50 by offset from Petitioner's salary.

						Bruce R. Houston
						Acting Chief Administrative Law Judge

2. The PS Form 3294 for the December 8, 1994 count showed an opening balance of $8896.43, and cash and stock on hand totaling only $8670.19.