It is that time again as many Postmasters are getting their CORE scores and are not in agreement with the results. Others have discovered that scores were changed by the District Manager and are understandably unhappy. Since this was a nation-wide scenario much more prominent than in the past it made many question whether a mandate had come from Postal Headquarters to review all CORE scores, even when they did not exceed the rule of three and rule of five which requires PCES approval.

» PROCESS FOR ONLINE RATINGS RECOURSE IN PES (pdf)

It was rumored that since unit and composite scores were so low then CORE should be as well. Once again, someone must not understand how the process works. Just because I had a retail revenue goal 8 percent above SPLY in a declining economy and ended up in cell zero, did not make me a non-contributor in financial management. The same would be true for TOE. My plan was set above an achievable goal, complicated by a dollar rate adjustment that the AVP’s can’t explain, and costs within the non-personnel lines that were not covered with a plan; so I did not make TOE. This does not make me a non-contributor in Leadership and Communication. In fact, many evaluators saw this and tried to show their appreciation for our success during these trying times with earned CORE scores and had the scores changed on them.

We can’t change leadership-yet. However, there is a process in place and let’s hope where wrong can be documented and demonstrated, that the right thing will be done.

Recourse is available after you receive your CORE rating. It is different than mitigating as recourse addresses CORE and mitigating addresses unit scores. It is too late for mitigating. Recourse must be filed within 45 days of receiving your rating. The timeline for Recourse this year begins February 5th. Recourse is entered into PES and submitted to evaluator. You must input justification, documentation and request the rating you believe you deserve. You need to spend some time with this so your argument can be won. You have time to start working on your justification by putting it into a Word document first and then cut and paste into PES when the system opens up.

Within 10 days, the evaluator initiates a discussion. Document this discussion.

If agreement is reached during this follow-up, the evaluator submits the request to the next higher level for action. An email is sent to the employee.

If denied, the employee has the option within 10 days to submit to the next higher level evaluator.

If the evaluator agrees and it is sent to the next higher level and they also agree, then the desired ratings are submitted to the lead cluster PCES Executive. If Denied at this level, the employee is notified by email. The employee is able to review final recourse information in PES.

In the case of Postmasters, it is going from our evaluator to the Cluster PCES. In the case of our manager or our supervisors, then it would follow the steps above.

If the PCES Cluster/Lead Executive agrees with the employee’s documentation and rationale, the executive submits the desired ratings and rationale to the Vice Presidents for Action. If denied, an email response is sent to the employee. The employee is able to review final recourse in PES.

The entire process is not to exceed 90 days.

Due to the circumstances around CORE scores this year, LEAGUE Headquarters wants all denials brought to their attention.

Attached you will find a flow chart that further explains the timelines for recourse.