US Postal Service 2015 Annual Report Download - page 66

2015 Report on Form 10-K United States Postal Service 64
Code of Ethics
All of our employees are required to comply with the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch
(“Standards”). The Standards are published in the Code of Federal Regulations (“CFR”) at 5 CFR Part 2635 and cover
prohibitions and restrictions on the acceptance of gifts, conflicting financial interests, the obligation of all employees to perform
their duties impartially, restrictions on the misuse of government positions, restrictions on certain outside activities and other
related ethical obligations.
Our employees are also covered by a set of additional restrictions that apply only to the employees of the Postal Service. These
“Supplemental Standards” can be found at 5 CFR Part 7001 and focus on limitations on outside employment and outside
business activities that could give rise to a conflict with their official duties.
The Standards and the Supplemental Standards contain many examples to help employees identify and resolve ethical issues.
New employees receive ethics training at their orientation and ethics officials provide ethics training throughout the year as
required by law and as otherwise deemed appropriate. To ensure that all of our employees can receive timely and accurate
ethics advice, we have established a dedicated ethics telephone helpline and an email address that is managed by ethics
specialists.
Certain high level employees are also subject to the Senior Financial Managers’ Code of Ethics. This Code of Ethics can be
found on the Postal Service’s website at: www.about.usps.com/who-we-are/financials/senior-financial-managers-code-of-
ethics-2010.pdf.
ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
Compensation Discussion and Analysis
The Board establishes executive officer compensation and benefits, subject to the requirements and limitations of federal law.
The Board has delegated to its Compensation Committee authority for initial review of management proposals related to
compensation and benefits for executive officers. The Compensation Committee, which meets several times throughout the
year, is composed solely of presidentially-appointed, U.S. Senate-confirmed Governors who are independent of our
management. The Compensation Committee makes recommendations to the full Board for their review and approval.
Set forth in Title 39 of the U.S. Code, federal law governing us provides that compensation and benefits for all of our officers
shall be comparable to the compensation and benefits paid for comparable levels of work in the private sector of the economy.
We are the second largest civilian employer in the nation, with approximately 622,000 career and non-career employees as
of the end of 2015. We operate approximately 215,000 motor vehicles and approximately 32,000 retail units. In 2015, we
delivered 154.2 billion pieces of mail, almost half of the world’s mail, and generated approximately $68.8 billion in revenue.
In 2015, we ranked 137th in Fortune magazine’s listing of Fortune Global 500 companies. By way of comparison, two of
our largest competitors ranked 168th and 238th on this list. If we were listed on the Fortune 500 annual ranking of America’s
largest corporations, we would be ranked 44th. The same two of our largest competitors are ranked 47th and 65th on that list.
Even as the economy continues to be challenged, comparably sized companies typically provide their top executives with
annual salaries well in excess of $1 million and total compensation and benefits valued at several million dollars. These
compensation packages typically consist of annual and long-term performance incentives, including a combination of cash
payments and stock options and a number of benefits and perquisites.
Although our governing law provides that executives and others should be compensated at a level comparable to the private
sector, the law does not afford the Governors the tools to achieve a standard of compensation comparable to the private sector.
Compensation for our executive officers remains significantly below that of similarly-ranked senior executives in the private
sector.
The law imposes three different caps on compensation for our employees. The first cap provides that no officer or employee
may be paid compensation “at a rate in excess of the rate for level I of the Executive Schedule under section 5312 of title 5”
of the U.S. Code. 39 U.S.C. §1003(a). In calendar year 2015, the upper limit on federal salaries rose 1% to $203,700.