Chris Lambie

National Post Jan 13, 2026 Canada Post carrier struggled with new route

An arbitrator has ordered the reinstatement of an Ontario postman fired for hoarding at least 6,000 pieces of mail during the summer of 2022 because Canada Post wasn’t aware of his post-traumatic stress disorder.

Hyun Min Jang was terminated as a mail carrier in King City, Ont., “for misdirection and delay of mail, as a result of the discovery of thousands of pieces of undelivered mail in his personal vehicle,” according to a recent decision from Kathleen G. O’neil, the arbitrator.

“Items retrieved from (Jang’s) vehicle included a great variety of mail, some of significant importance to customers such as wedding invitations, cheques, health cards, tickets, jury summons and immigration documents,” O’neil said.

“The delay in delivery ranged from days to over two months. As well, keys to community mailboxes and other property belonging to the employer were found.”

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers grieved Jang’s termination.

“The union acknowledges the undelivered mail as major misconduct for a mail carrier, but asks that (Jang) be reinstated to his position with appropriate accommodation for a health condition that affected the conduct that led to his discharge,” O’neil said.

Canada Post asked that the discharge be upheld.

The union argued “that the medical evidence negates some of the intentionality in (Jang’s) delay of mail, and efforts to conceal the problem from the employer, despite the fact that he knew what he was doing was wrong,” said the decision.

“His underlying PTSD left him more vulnerable to the avoidant behaviour that partially explains his inability to deliver the mail and failure to alert management, in the union’s view. Counsel argues that this is the only plausible explanation supported by the evidence. Further, union counsel underlines that (Jang) derived no benefit from the situation, and was coming in early and working late, amounting to many unpaid hours trying to deal with the backlog.”

The arbitrator sided with Jang.

“I have decided to reinstate (Jang) without compensation, given that at the time of the discharge, the employer was unaware of (his) medical condition, or its effect on his ability to do his job,” O’neil said in her Dec. 16 decision.

“He is to be returned to his position at King City, or such other position on which the parties can agree, on the condition that he can provide adequate medical evidence to establish his fitness to return to duty, and whether any current medical conditions would impact his ability to perform his duties to the extent that he would need accommodation.”

Until Jang “can provide evidence of his fitness to return to work, with or without accommodation, (he) is to be considered to be on authorized leave without pay, with access to such benefits as the collective agreement provides,” she said.

Jang, who needed a Korean interpreter for the arbitration hearing, had worked for Canada Post for about eight years, starting in 2014.

In late June 2022, he transferred from a route in Brampton, Ont., to one in King City (40 kilometres north of Toronto), which he found more challenging. He fell seriously behind over the summer and by mid-september, he had accumulated about 6,000 pieces of undelivered mail in his vehicle.

A psychiatrist who testified indicated Jang’s PTSD symptoms “originated in early life, and that his vulnerability to having symptoms surface would likely be lifelong,” said the decision.

Jang “found the route at King City very difficult, with the need to manually sort a high volume of mail, which was different from his previous assignment in Brampton,” it said.

He also “found the mood at the King City facility ‘dark,’ and felt intimidated by his colleagues, interpreting facial expressions and lack of greetings as unwelcoming, especially as compared to what he described as a family atmosphere in Brampton.”

Jang “recognized in his evidence that his colleagues might not have felt that way, but said that memories of his childhood abuse came flooding back,” said the decision.

“At some point in his tenure at King City, a colleague noticed some error (Jang) had made, and commented that if he made another mistake, he would be fired. She later said it was a joke. Nonetheless, in the context of the general atmosphere at King City, (Jang) testified it had a deep effect on him. He said that he felt suffocated at King City and he experienced this as similar to when he was young and bullied, sometimes violently, at school.”

Jang “was also unsure of the supervisory structure at King City, which did not have an embedded manager,” the decision said.

Complaints from customers on his route led a postmaster to discover the mail left in Jang’s vehicle on Sept. 14, 2022.

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