🗞️ When Going Viral Gets You Fired: A Federal Judge Rules the Postal Service Overstepped

A federal administrative law judge has ruled that the United States Postal Service violated federal labor law when it moved to terminate two Florida employees who used their cellphones to document and publicize workplace grievances, one through a viral TikTok video and the other by photographing a mail-sorting machine she believed posed a safety hazard.

In a decision issued May 6, 2026, Administrative Law Judge Benjamin W. Green of the National Labor Relations Board found that USPS unlawfully disciplined Kellman Kirkconnell, a rural letter carrier in Gainesville, and Keren Williams, a mail handler in Lake Mary, relying on workplace rules the judge found to be overbroad and incompatible with workers' rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

Kirkconnell's case arose in April 2023, when results of the Rural Route Evaluated Compensation System (RRECS), a long-contested pay formula, were distributed to rural letter carriers. Kirkconnell learned he stood to lose roughly $12,000 in annual guaranteed pay while gaining an extra workday per pay period. Rather than walking out alongside colleagues who did so that day, he recorded a brief video on the workroom floor and posted it to TikTok. The video generated substantial public engagement and prompted exchanges with other postal workers across the country facing similar pay reductions. Management ordered him to remove the videos, warned him he was "being watched," and ultimately issued a notice of removal that was later reduced to a seven-day suspension through a union grievance settlement. Notably, the judge dismissed the specific allegation that USPS engaged in unlawful surveillance, finding the General Counsel did not prove that management acted in an out-of-the-ordinary manner to observe Kirkconnell's posts.

Williams, in a separate incident, photographed an overflowing mail-sorting machine at the Lake Mary processing center during an October 2023 overnight shift. She testified she relied on the safety and health provisions of her collective bargaining agreement to document what she considered a hazardous condition and report it to her supervisor. She too received a notice of removal, later reduced to a seven-day paper suspension. Unlike Kirkconnell's settlement, Williams's grievance resolution also included a lump-sum payment of $1,501.96 in addition to the reduction in discipline.

Judge Green concluded that both employees were engaged in protected concerted activity under Section 7 of the NLRA, the provision guaranteeing workers the right to act together for mutual aid and protection, and that the USPS rules invoked to discipline them were unlawfully broad. The employee conduct rule at issue, ELM 665.16, required workers to behave in ways that "reflect favorably upon the Postal Service" and barred "conduct prejudicial" to the agency, language the judge found would reasonably discourage employees from discussing wages, working conditions, or union matters. The agency's blanket cellphone camera prohibition, Management Instruction MI AS-882-2011-6, was similarly found to be overbroad for failing to carve out camera uses that federal law explicitly protects, such as documenting safety hazards or unfair labor practices.

The ruling applies the NLRB's standard for evaluating workplace rules, established in Stericycle, Inc., 372 NLRB No. 113 (Aug. 2, 2023), which requires that rules be assessed from the perspective of an economically dependent employee who might consider engaging in protected activity, and instructs that ambiguities in employer-drafted rules be construed against the employer. Under that framework, the judge found USPS unable to demonstrate that its legitimate interests in customer privacy and facility security could not have been advanced through more narrowly tailored rules.

Judge Green ordered USPS to rescind the offending portions of both rules, expunge disciplinary records for both employees, and post official notices at the relevant facilities. Because Kirkconnell's suspension carried no loss of pay, no backpay was ordered in his case. Williams had already received a lump-sum payment through her grievance settlement. The decision may be appealed to the full NLRB in Washington.

Key Points

• An NLRB administrative law judge ruled that USPS violated federal labor law by disciplining two Florida workers who used cellphones to document and publicize workplace concerns.
• Kirkconnell recorded a TikTok video on April 1, 2023, describing the financial impact of new RRECS pay adjustments on himself and fellow carriers; Williams photographed a mail-sorting machine in October 2023 to document what she considered a hazardous working condition.
• Both workers received notices of removal later reduced through union grievance settlements: Kirkconnell to a seven-day suspension with no loss of pay, and Williams to a seven-day paper suspension accompanied by a $1,501.96 lump-sum payment.
• The judge dismissed the allegation that USPS engaged in unlawful surveillance of Kirkconnell's social media posts, finding insufficient evidence that management acted outside the ordinary to observe them.
• The judge found USPS's employee conduct rule (ELM 665.16) unlawfully overbroad for requiring employees to conduct themselves in ways that "reflect favorably" on the agency and prohibiting "conduct prejudicial" to it, language that could reasonably deter employees from discussing wages and working conditions.
• The agency's blanket cellphone camera ban (MI AS-882-2011-6) was also ruled overbroad for failing to exempt photography protected under the NLRA, such as documenting safety hazards; the judge noted a limited savings clause could have preserved the rule's legitimate aims.
• USPS supervisors' conduct in ordering video removals, refusing to identify permissible posting limits, and warning Kirkconnell that "anything you post is being watched anywhere" were independently found to violate Section 8(a)(1) of the NLRA.
• The RRECS pay system, which prompted Kirkconnell's post, affected thousands of rural letter carriers nationally, with some reporting annual pay reductions exceeding $15,000.

Primary Source Author: Benjamin W. Green, Administrative Law Judge, NLRB Division of Judges

Primary Source: United States Postal Service and Kellman Kirkconnell / Keren Williams, Cases 12-CA-316287 & 12-CA-330861, JD-26-26 (May 6, 2026)

Primary Source Link: https://www.nlrb.gov/case/12-CA-316287

Supplemental Sources

• NLRB: Employee Rights on Social Media
• Stericycle Ruling and Its Impact on Employer Handbook Policies, Legal Dive (2023)
• Rural Letter Carriers and the RRECS Pay System, The American Prospect (2023)
• USPS Rural Carriers Seek to Decertify Union After Pay Cuts, Federal News Network (2023)
• Employer Guidance on Photography and Recording Policies Under the NLRA, LaborSphere
• Social Media Policy Considerations for Employers in 2025, National Law Review