What Is a Grievance Under the National Agreement?

Article 15 defines a grievance broadly — basically any disagreement between the union and management that touches wages, hours, or working conditions. They kept the definition wide on purpose. If it involves the contract, you can probably grieve it.

I have filed hundreds of grievances over 20 years as a letter carrier and steward. Some were straightforward overtime violations. Some were discipline cases where management jumped to a 14-day suspension for a first offense. Some were working condition disputes where a supervisor tried to deny comfort stops or force a carrier to skip lunch. What they all had in common: the contract said one thing, management did another, and the grievance procedure was the mechanism to fix it.

This guide walks you through the entire process — from recognizing you have a grievance to preparing a case file strong enough for arbitration. If you want the shorter version, see the USPS Grievance Guide blog post. If you need background on the contract articles referenced here, start with USPS Contract Articles Explained.

Before You File: Identify the Violation

Before you write anything down, you need to know what was violated. A grievance is not a complaint letter — it is a contractual claim. You are alleging that management violated a specific provision of the National Agreement, a handbook, a Step 4 settlement, or an established practice. If you cannot point to the provision, you do not have a grievance. You have a gripe.

Most grievances fall into a few categories:

• Discipline cases — Letters of warning, suspensions, removals that violate the just cause standard under Article 16
• Overtime violations — Bypassing the Overtime Desired List, exceeding 12/60-hour limits, forcing non-ODL carriers before exhausting the list under Article 8
• Leave violations — Denied annual or sick leave, improper LWOP, management requiring medical documentation for absences where it is not warranted
• Working condition violations — Denied comfort stops, forced route adjustments without proper count and inspection, safety hazards under Article 14
• Steward rights violations — Denied steward time, management interfering with grievance investigations under Article 17
• Seniority and assignment violations — Improper bid denials, T-6 string assignments, transfer and reassignment disputes

Once you know the category, identify the specific contract provision. For discipline, that is Article 16 and the seven Daugherty just cause factors. For overtime, it is Article 8.5 and the relevant subsections. For steward rights, it is Article 17, Sections 2 and 3. Being specific matters — arbitrators sustain grievances based on specific contractual violations, not general feelings that something was unfair.

Step 1: Informal Step A — The Conversation

Every grievance starts here. Informal Step A is an oral discussion between the steward and the carrier's immediate supervisor. No forms, no paperwork — just a conversation about what happened and whether it can be resolved.

The 14-Day Clock

Under Article 15, the union has 14 days from when it first learned of, or reasonably should have learned of, the cause of the grievance to initiate at Informal Step A. This is not 14 days from when the carrier tells the steward about it. It is 14 days from when the union — meaning any steward or union official — became aware.

That distinction matters. I have seen grievances killed because a carrier complained to three different stewards over three weeks before anyone actually initiated the grievance. By then, the 14 days had passed. If a carrier tells you about a problem, treat that moment as the start of the clock.

What Happens at Informal Step A

The steward meets with the supervisor, lays out the facts, identifies the contract violation, and asks for a resolution. This is your chance to settle the case without the formal process. Many grievances — especially straightforward ones like a missed overtime opportunity or an improperly denied day off — get resolved right here.

But Informal Step A is also your first opportunity to investigate. Article 17 gives stewards the right to investigate potential grievances, and arbitrators have consistently upheld that right. In C#03272, the arbitrator sustained a grievance where Branch President Davis sought to investigate a potential grievance and requested investigatory permission under Article XVII. The arbitrator confirmed that the steward's right to investigate is not a privilege — it is a contractual entitlement.

Use Informal Step A to gather information you need: clock rings, PS Form 3996 records, route inspection data, witness names, management's stated justification. The more you learn now, the stronger your file will be if this goes further.

If Informal Step A Fails

If the supervisor does not resolve the grievance, you have 7 days to appeal to Formal Step A. Do not wait until day 7 — things come up, supervisors go on leave, paperwork gets delayed. Move promptly.

Step 2: Formal Step A — Building the Record

Formal Step A is where the grievance becomes an official record. This is not another conversation — it is a structured meeting where both parties develop the facts, exchange documents, and create the file that will follow this grievance through Step B and potentially to arbitration.

PS Form 8190: The Joint Step A Grievance Form

The 8190 is the backbone of your grievance. It documents the issue statement, the facts, the union's contentions, the remedy requested, and management's response. Everything goes on this form or is attached to it.

Your issue statement should be framed as a two-part question — one part on the merits, one part on the remedy:

"Did management violate Article 16 of the National Agreement and the just cause standard when it issued a 14-day suspension to the grievant on [date] for alleged failure to follow instructions, and if so, what is the appropriate remedy?"

If multiple contract provisions were violated, list each one. If the same incident involves an Article 16 discipline violation, an Article 17 denial of steward representation, and an Article 19 handbook violation, your issue statement covers all three. Do not leave anything out — you cannot add new issues later in the process.

Developing the Facts

Here's something a lot of stewards don't push hard enough on: Article 15.2(d) says both sides have to "cooperate fully" in developing the facts at Formal Step A. That's not a suggestion. If you need clock rings, you ask. If you need copies of the write-up, you ask. If they drag their feet or flat-out refuse, put that refusal in writing — because now their stonewalling is part of your case too.

The union representative at Formal Step A is typically the branch president or designee — not necessarily the steward who handled Informal Step A. Make sure whoever handles Formal Step A has the full picture: your notes from Informal Step A, the documents you gathered, the witness statements, and your analysis of which contract provisions were violated.

Management's Written Decision

After Formal Step A, management issues a written decision. If the grievance is denied, you have 7 days to appeal to Step B. Again, do not sit on this. File the appeal promptly.

Step 3: Step B — The Dispute Resolution Team

At Step B, your grievance leaves the local office and goes to a Dispute Resolution Team (DRT) — one NALC representative and one USPS representative who review the case jointly. They were not involved in the dispute and come to it fresh.

The DRT has 14 days to issue a decision. Three outcomes are possible:

1. Resolved — The DRT agrees on a resolution, and the grievance is settled
2. Impassed — The DRT cannot agree, and the case is forwarded to the National Business Agent (NBA)
3. Returned — The DRT sends the case back for further development at Step A (rare, but it happens when the file is incomplete)

This is why your 8190 matters so much. The DRT members were not in the room when the violation happened. They are reading your file. If your issue statement is vague, your facts are thin, and your contentions do not connect the dots between the facts and the contract language, you are asking the DRT to do your work for you. They will not.

A grievance file that can speak for itself — clear issue statement, documented facts, specific contract citations, relevant arbitration precedent — is a grievance file that wins at Step B. The ones that get impassed or returned are usually the ones where the steward assumed someone else would fill in the gaps.

Step 4: Arbitration — The Final Step

If Step B impasses your grievance, the NBA has 14 days to appeal to arbitration under Article 15.4. Before that, there may be a pre-arbitration discussion (Article 15.4.A.4) where the parties make one more attempt to settle. Many cases resolve at this stage.

If the case goes to hearing, an arbitrator hears testimony, reviews the evidence, and issues a binding decision. For a deeper look at how arbitration works, see Arbitration 101 for Postal Stewards.

What matters for you as a steward: the case file you built at Step A is the foundation of the arbitration case. The arbitrator will review the 8190, the documents, the contentions. If you did the work at Steps A and B, arbitration is an extension of that work. If you did not, it is too late to fix it.

The Just Cause Standard: Article 16 and Discipline Grievances

The classic just cause test comes from Arbitrator Carroll Daugherty's 1966 decision in Enterprise Wire (46 LA 359). It lays out seven questions management has to answer "yes" to before discipline sticks. Think of them as your seven shots to knock the case down:

1. Did the carrier have adequate warning? Was the employee told — clearly and in advance — that their conduct could lead to discipline? You can't punish someone for breaking a rule they were never told about.
2. Is the rule reasonable? Some local policies are arbitrary or outdated, and an arbitrator will say so.
3. Did management investigate before issuing discipline? A lot of supervisors skip this. They issue discipline first and ask questions never.
4. Was the investigation fair and objective? Did management actually look at the facts with an open mind, or did they start with a conclusion and work backwards?
5. Did the investigation produce substantial proof of guilt? Suspicion is not enough. If they let Jones slide for the same thing last month, they can't hammer your grievant now.
6. Were the rules applied equally? Does management enforce this rule the same way for everybody, or is your grievant being singled out?
7. Is the penalty appropriate for the offense? A 14-day suspension for clocking in 2 minutes late is not corrective — it's punitive.

If management fails on any one of these seven questions, they have not met the just cause standard, and the discipline should be overturned. A core principle running through all of Article 16 is that discipline must be corrective, not punitive. The purpose of discipline is to correct behavior and bring the employee into compliance — not to punish.

Real cases illustrate this. In C#01670A-C, Arbitrator Elliott H. Goldstein sustained a grievance where three letter carriers with poor attendance records were required to provide medical certification for single-day absences. The arbitrator found that management abused the medical documentation requirement — the requirement was punitive rather than corrective, and management could not demonstrate just cause for imposing the burden. Similarly, in C#01624, Arbitrator William Haber sustained a grievance where a carrier who called in sick with a severe headache was required to produce a medical certificate for a one-day absence that cost $16. The arbitrator found the requirement unreasonable.

These cases show what "corrective, not punitive" looks like in practice. Management can require medical documentation in certain circumstances, but when they weaponize the requirement — imposing it selectively, using it as punishment for calling in sick, requiring expensive documentation for minor absences — arbitrators will sustain the grievance.

Evidence Gathering: What to Document and How

A grievance without evidence is an opinion. A grievance with evidence is a case. Here is what you need to collect, depending on the type of grievance:

For Every Grievance

• Date, time, and location of the incident
• Names of everyone involved — grievant, supervisor, witnesses
• Witness statements — written, signed, and dated. Interview witnesses as soon as possible. Memories fade, people transfer, details get foggy
• Management's stated justification — what did the supervisor say when asked why?
• Contract provisions violated — specific article and section numbers

For Discipline Grievances

• Copy of the discipline letter or notice
• The grievant's official personnel folder (OPF) — check for expired discipline that should have been purged under Article 16.7
• Evidence of disparate treatment — how were similar offenses handled for other employees?
• Pre-disciplinary discussion records — did one happen? Was the carrier given a real opportunity to respond?
• Higher-level management concurrence under Article 16.8 — was a suspension or removal reviewed by someone above the immediate supervisor?

For Overtime and Schedule Grievances

• Clock rings and TACS Employee Everything Reports
• Overtime Desired List records
• PS Form 3996 submissions and responses
• Equitability reports showing hours worked by ODL carriers

MRS Documents and Arbitration Precedent

Back up your case file with MRS documents and arbitration wins. For example, M-00245 nails down what rights you have as a steward when you're working the grievance. M-00159 covers grievance procedure disputes across multiple cases the national parties already settled. When you can drop an MRS number on the table and say "the parties already agreed on this at Step 4," management's arguments get a lot weaker.

Arbitration precedent is equally important. When you can cite a specific case number, arbitrator name, and holding that applies to your situation, you are not arguing your interpretation of the contract — you are showing that an arbitrator already interpreted it and ruled in the union's favor. That changes the dynamic at every step.

Common Mistakes Stewards Make

After years of handling grievances and watching other stewards handle them, here are the mistakes I see most often:

1. Missing the Timelines

The 14-day clock at Informal Step A and the 7-day appeal windows are hard deadlines. Management will raise timeliness as a defense, and if you missed the deadline, your case may be dead on arrival regardless of how strong the merits are. Put the deadlines in your calendar. Set reminders. Do not assume you will remember.

2. Writing a Vague Issue Statement

"Management violated the contract" is not an issue statement. You need to cite the specific articles, the specific action management took, the specific date, and the specific remedy you are requesting. The 8190 is a legal document. Treat it like one.

3. Failing to Develop the File at Step A

If the file is thin at Step A, it will be thin at Step B and at arbitration. You do not get a second chance to develop facts. Request documents early. Interview witnesses immediately. Attach everything to the 8190. A DRT member or arbitrator reading your file six months later should be able to understand exactly what happened and why it violated the contract without needing to call you.

4. Not Citing Precedent

Contract language alone is often not enough. Arbitration decisions show how the language has been applied in similar situations. If an arbitrator sustained a grievance on nearly identical facts, citing that case puts management on notice that they will lose. If you do not cite it, management has no reason to settle.

5. Settling for Less Than the Carrier Deserves

If management violated the contract and the carrier lost pay, the remedy is make-whole — full back pay plus benefits. Do not accept a partial remedy unless there is a genuine reason to compromise. Know what the carrier is entitled to before you sit down to discuss resolution.

6. Not Requesting Information Under Article 17

Article 17, Section 3 gives stewards the right to request and obtain information necessary to process a grievance. If you need clock rings, route inspection data, discipline records for similarly situated employees, or any other document management has — request it in writing. If management refuses or delays, document the refusal and grieve the information denial separately if necessary.

Grievance Timeline Summary

Step	Deadline	Who Is Involved
Informal Step A	14 days from awareness	Steward + immediate supervisor
Appeal to Formal Step A	7 days after Informal Step A	Branch president (or designee) + postmaster (or designee)
Appeal to Step B	7 days after Formal Step A denial	Dispute Resolution Team (NALC + USPS reps)
Step B decision	14 days	DRT issues resolution, impasse, or return
Appeal to arbitration	14 days after Step B impasse	National Business Agent

Putting It All Together

Filing a grievance is not complicated. It is a structured process with defined steps and deadlines. What makes the difference between grievances that win and grievances that lose is the quality of the work the steward does at each step.

Identify the violation. Start the clock. Investigate immediately. Build the file with facts, documents, witness statements, contract citations, MRS settlements, and arbitration precedent. Frame the issue clearly on the 8190. Request a specific remedy. Meet every deadline.

If you do those things, you will win most of your cases — because most contract violations are not close calls. Management either followed the contract or they did not. Your job as a steward is to build a record that proves they did not and to present it in a way that leaves no room for doubt.

For more on the specific contract articles referenced in this guide, see USPS Contract Articles Explained. For a deep dive into what happens when your case reaches the final step, see Arbitration 101 for Postal Stewards. And for your rights as a steward during the grievance process — including Weingarten rights, information requests, and protection from retaliation — see Steward Rights Under the USPS Contract.