Veterans claim job discrimination at Charlotte post office

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- WCNC has learned that more than a hundred disabled veterans who work for the U.S. Postal Service in Charlotte have signed complaint letters to the federal government, claiming they suffer from on-the-job harassment and what the letters call “blatant discrimination against veterans.”

Now, some of those veterans are telling their story publicly for the first time, to the WCNC Investigators.

"Veterans are discriminated against. Veterans are passed over, not given upward mobility and pretty much treated like trash," explains Michael Anthony Smith. He’s the father of two who fought in Desert Storm. Now he’s fighting the Charlotte Post Office, and what Smith calls the handover of veterans' jobs and veterans' promotions to less qualified non-veterans. "I pretty much believe I'm brushed to the side," adds Smith.

And he’s not the only one.

A group of six disabled veterans, all employees at the Charlotte Mail Center on Scott Futrell Drive off Interstate 85, told the WCNC Investigators their similar stories.

"You run into these road blocks," explained Army veteran James Haynes, with a complaint echoed by Jose Plummy, a 15-year Postal Service employee.

“They kind of blackball us,” says Plummy, “They ship us to different facilities."

And Navy veteran Matt Schmidt remembers being told by a Postal Service supervisor, “If we knew you were a disabled veteran, we would never have transferred you in here.”

WCNC found complaint letter after complaint letter, signed by disabled veteran after disabled veteran – 103 vets in all, working at the Charlotte Mail Center, all complaining of the same shoddy treatment by Postal Service management.

“They will try to manipulate it where you will have harder work to do,” says ex-Marine Philip Graham.

“Because we are disabled veterans,” adds Elmer Lowe, “We're being chastised and made to suffer.”

But U.S. Postal Service spokesperson Enola Rice, in an interview with WCNC, denies the veterans’ claims of discrimination and harassment.

Rice: "There's no proof their allegations are true."

WCNC: "So they're lying about this?"

Rice: “Their allegations have never been proven."

WCNC: “Are they lying about what they say is happening?"

Rice: "The Postal Service has no proof that what they're saying is legitimate, after investigating every single allegation."

WCNC: "And you don't want to use the word lying.”

Rice: (long pause) “I deal with the facts.”

The WCNC Investigators have learned the Charlotte Mail Center is also dealing with complaints of racism – in particular, about a black doll carried by one supervisor.

"Why would an individual bring a doll, black, with a noose around its neck to work to a government facility and parade it?" asks Michael Anthony Smith.

And 20-year postal worker Derrick Hite also complained about “the little black doll on the keychain.” Hite says “management confirmed he (the supervisor) did have the doll."

"It was a little teeny doll about this big,” says Postal Service spokesperson Rice, using her fingers to show a length of about two inches. “It was in his (the supervisor’s) pocket. At no time was there a noose. And at no time did any of the employees allege there was a noose.”

WCNC: “Was it a black doll?”

Rice: “Yeah, it was black. We saw the doll. And we said to the employee this offends other employees, and we would like for you not to bring it to work.”

But the Post Office again tells WCNC the veterans' complaints of racism were investigated, and never proven -- just like the veterans' complaints about job discrimination, and harassment.

But now those same Charlotte complaints are getting a second look, from national leaders of the American Postal Workers Union (APWU).

APWU Executive Director Cliff Guffey told the WCNC Investigators by phone from the union’s national convention in Las Vegas that he’s “already talked with Postal Service headquarters in Washington about the situation in Charlotte”. Guffey said he expected a quick response from Washington, to solve what he calls “derogatory treatment by Charlotte managers, of veterans working for the Postal Service.”

Elmer Lowe and his fellow veterans hope the union leader is right.

“And I just pray,” says Lowe. “I keep myself praying. And I hope that my voice, and my brothers’ voice don't fall on deaf ears. Something needs to be looked at. There's a machine that's broken. And it needs to be fixed."