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Christmas Miracles
Do Happen
Postal Service Reinstates Disabled Iraq War Veteran
submitted by Reader 12/24/06
Ryan got an early
Christmas present on the morning of 23 December 2006. It came in the
form of an Express Mail envelope. It contained a tersely worded
statement from the plant manager to the effect that, "Ryan Kutz is
reinstated and is instructed to report for duty 23 December 2006 at
10:30 PM." Christmas miracles do happen. Ryan would like to thank
his family, friends and supporters who helped make this happen.
Undoubtedly one of the hundreds of letters or emails sent out,
reached out and touched the right person. He's looking forward to
having a fair chance to complete his probation and joining the ranks
of career Postal Employees. Please keep Ryan in your thoughts as he
battles his cancer and PTSD. For those in the forums who thought
Ryan should have never have been hired or that the Postal Service
was justified in his termination I have request. Thank the next
soldier, sailor, airmen or marine you meet for making it possible
for you to exercise your freedom of speech. Have a very Merry
Christmas.
Un-Merry Christmas
Postal Service Terminates Disabled Iraq War Veteran for Unacceptable
Attendance
submitted by Reader 12/21/06
A disabled Iraqi
War veteran has just received a very cruel Christmas present. His employer,
the U.S. Postal Service fired him due to “unacceptable attendance” caused
by his PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and his hospitalization
with stage four colon cancer. Please hear his story and do what you
can.
Ryan Keith Kutz enlisted in the United States Army on April 2001 at
the age of 17. He served for three years with the 101st infantry as
a 240B, machine gunner. During his enlistment 13 months were spent in
harms way in Mosul Iraq. While on patrol there, Ryan was shot in the
chest at close range by an Iraqi with a handgun. Luckily, his body armour
absorbed the impact, leaving him only badly bruised. He received a Good
Conduct discharge upon his return in April 2004.
Ryan has had a hard time adjusting back to civilian life. At the end
of his enlistment, he was brought back with insufficient time to out-process
and didn’t receive the required transitional help. Since then he has
been diagnosed with PTSD and tried to commit suicide twice. He’s tried
to cope by working hard but has bounced from one low paying, unbenefited
job to another. This year it looked like his luck had changed. He started
at the Springfield Missouri P&DC on 30 September 2006. This could be
a good thing since it pays well and has benefits, but . . .
The Postal Service has new hires work as PTF’s (Part Time Flexibles)
and was requiring them to work 7 days a week, 12 hours a day according
to the Tour 1 MDO. (After all, its cheaper to work one person 84 hours
a week and not pay benefits on a second person.) The Union goes in each
week and is sometimes successful in getting them a day off, but only
after a fight. I don’t know many disabled vets who can work 84 hours
a week. Ryan struggled. He’s called in and missed work a couple of times
due to his PTSD. I’m confident this wouldn’t have happened if employees
weren’t being taken advantage of and were given at least one day off
a week. It’s hard for any person to work that many hours without any
assurance of time off. How does a disabled veteran go see his doctor?
How does a disabled veteran make it thru a tough week when there is
no end?
After working 12 hours on Thanksgiving, Ryan was rushed to the VA Hospital
at Fayetteville AR with abdominal pains. He spent three days there in
the hospital and received two blood transfusions and numerous tests.
When the VA found out he had private insurance they sent him to St.
John’s Hospital in Springfield. He spent the next five days in the hospital,
receiving another two blood transfusions and more tests. On 03 December
2006, he was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer at the age of 23.
The cancer has spread to his liver and all they can do for him at this
time is to start him on chemo. There is no history of colon cancer on
either side of his family. Of all colon cancer patients, less then 5%
are in his age group. How does this happen? One has to wonder if maybe
his exposure to depleted uranium shells or time spent guarding Iraqi
chemical weapons sites might have contributed to this.
Ryan was discharged on 06 December and released by his doctor to return
to work. After working the next two days, he was abruptly sent home
at the start of his shift on the third day. Postal management prevented
him from working his next six scheduled days as they tried to decide
what paper work they required. Ryan finally went back to work on Sunday,
17 December and was promptly handed a letter from the plant manager
firing him for “unacceptable attendance.” Merry Christmas.
The U.S. Postal Service hired him knowing he was a disabled veteran
and that he would need reasonable accommodation. They did not provide
reasonable accommodation when they expected him to work seven days a
week, 12 hours a day. While it’s true that Ryan missed 11 days while
he was in the hospital, who could have worked during this time? To add
insult to injury, the U.S. Postal Service caused him to miss the last
6 days he was scheduled to work. This was due to their incompetence
and treachery as they prepared their case to discard yet another disabled
veteran.
In my opinion, Ryan was fired because he can’t work 84 hours a week.
Since when did we require our disabled veterans to ,”sell their souls”
to get a decent job? The attendance is just a convenient excuse. If
it were just for the money, Ryan would leave and never look back considering
how badly they treat their employees. But its not, if he’s going to
have a fighting chance to beat his cancer he desperately needs the medical
insurance he’s purchased there. Ryan can work and wants to work.
Is this how we treat those who are willing to fight and die for our
country when they return? Ryan is a hard worker who deserves better
than this. He survived the worst that Iraq could throw at him. I hope
he can survive being fired from the U.S. Postal Service. I’m confident
I can speak for all my follow veterans when demanding Ryan be given
a chance to continue to serve in the U.S. Postal Service.
END OF READER SUBMISSION
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