Questions You Didn't Know to Ask
Access
How to Setup LiteBlue
In order to view and access your employee documents including:
- Career or Craft Changing
- Job Bidding
- Payroll
- Tax documents
An employee needs to setup online access to LiteBlue. The first step in setting up an account is to setup a SSP or Self-Service Profile. You will need to have your EIN or Employee Identification Number which looks something like 06550872. If you have a time card the EIN will be on this card.
Further walk through SSP Further walk through LiteBlue Setup
How to Setup Direct Deposit
From the LiteBlue main page navigate to PostalEASE. Enter your credentials. Select Allotments/Net To Bank Payroll on the upper left. There will be a disclaimer page, choose Continue, as Main Menu takes you back to the previous page. Net to Bank is postal terminology for direct deposit.
If you need to split up your paycheck into other accounts choose Allotments. Allotments is useful if you have a car payment or budget your money. Note if you use Allotments your NetPay in your paystub does not reflect your total Netpay, but rather the NetPay in the primary direct deposit account entered into Net to Bank. You may view these Allotment NetPay(s) under the deductions section of your paystub.
Please Note: If you are a part-time employee, MHA, PSE, CCA, RCA, etc., you must update the Net to Bank after each break in service or craft change. In these instances the employee is technically no longer employed by USPS during the break in service or craft change and must start off as a new employee though most of your LiteBlue data will follow through to the next stage of your employment.
How to Setup TSP
The federal government's terminology for the career employee's retirement fund is the TSP or Thrift Savings Plan. In LiteBlue navigate to PostalEASE. Enter your credentials and then choose Continue from the disclaimer page. The following page allows you to adjust the percentage of your pay that gets contributed to your TSP. By default when you become a career employee the government sets the contribution at 5%. If you want to setup additional retirement accounts such as IRA, both traditional and Roth are availble the option will show on this page. The government also contributes to your TSP each payroll if you contribute at least 5%. If you update any settings choose Validate to submit the changes. A ticket page will generate showing when the update changes will go into effect.
LiteBlue provides an education page on TSP Benefits and since TSP is a non-Agency specific federal retirement program and it is accessible independent of LiteBlue. The independent page is where you setup planning for retirement and how you want your TSP funds invested until you retire.
How to Access W2
From within LiteBlue navigate to PostalEASE. Enter your credentials. On the disclaimer page choose Continue. Choose the appropriate year to view that W2.
Bidding
HR Issues
Supervisors
Time
Over Time
Are You Required to Stay
When Must Over Time Be Called
The latest overtime must be called is five minutes before the end of the shift. Despite the belief that overtime must be called two hours or a some other arbitrary number this is not true. The reason overtime must be called five minutes prior to the end of the shift is the contractual five minute paid wash-up. This five minutes belongs exclusively to the employee.
ODL
The ODL or Overtime Desired List is a list of all employees on a tour that would like to work overtime if it is called. The signup sheets for the ODL are usually posted two weeks prior to the start of the next quarter. The ODL follows the employee until they sign themselves off the ODL. For example if you signup for the ODL while working on tour 3 and then move to tour 1 you will still be on the ODL. Therefore it is false when management says you must re-signup for the ODL each quarter. To remove yourself from the ODL you write a brief statement that you wish to be removed from the ODL. You turn this statement into your union shop steward.
If you are ODL but don't want to do overtime that particular night you can be by-passed. This is applicable outside of PEAK season, the month of December. To be by-passed, write a statement before the ODL call and turn it into the shop steward.
ODL Bypass
The term ODL Bypass is when an overtime call is made late in the shift when half of the tour has already clocked out. This late call cheats the earlier tour crew that are on the ODL from the overtime being offered. This is a grievance offense.