Jury Finds For United States Postal Service In Employment Discrimination Case

     The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that late on January 30, 2013, a federal jury in Scranton returned a unanimous verdict in favor of the United States Postal Service.

     The matter captioned as Gary A. Savidge v. Patrick R. Donahoe, Postmaster General, was tried before the Honorable Robert D. Mariani. The jury deliberated for approximately one hour.

     According to United States Attorney Peter J. Smith, Gary Savidge, of Shickshinny, PA, a retired mail processing clerk, brought this employment discrimination suit against the Postal Service, claiming that the Postal Service failed to select him for two custodial positions located in Wilkes-Barre, PA, because of his service-related disabilities. The Postal Service maintained that Mr. Savidge was not selected for the first custodial position because the employee selected for the position had an earlier request to transfer than Mr. Savidge.  Additionally, the Postal Service maintained that Mr. Savidge was not selected for the second custodial position because he had unacceptable attendance.

     After a three day trial, the jury returned a verdict that the Postal Service did not discriminate against Mr. Savidge.

     The Postal Service was represented by Assistant United States Attorney Melissa A. Swauger.

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