Daily printout: Aug. 27

The Postal Service has retired HERO and has made all its content available on MyHR, the new human resources website for USPS employees.

With this change, employees can now access learning, career development and performance information and tools on a single site.

From links on MyHR, employees can now:

• Access a variety of learning opportunities;

• View and complete assigned training;

• Explore guidance for career planning and self-development; and

• Find job aids and other support resources.

Additionally, managers and supervisors can access tools to support and coach their employees.

These changes are part of the Postal Service’s efforts to streamline access to HR information, tools and resources for employees.

The Postal Service wants employees to remember the differences between Election Mail, Ballot Mail and Political Mail — and to know the right tags to use.

Election Mail is any item mailed to or from authorized election officials that enables citizens to participate in the voting process. This includes ballots, sample ballots, voter registration cards, absentee ballot applications and polling place notifications.

Ballot Mail, a subset of Election Mail, is sent to or from an authorized election official and contains a ballot that may be used to cast a vote in an election.

Only Ballot Mail is permitted to use Green Tag 191, Domestic and International Ballots, and Ballot Mail service type identifiers.

Political Mail is any material mailed for campaign purposes by a registered political candidate, campaign committee or committee of a political party.

It also includes any material mailed by a political action committee (PAC), super PAC or other organization engaging in issue advocacy or voter mobilization.

Only Political Mail can use Red Tag 57, Political Campaign Mailing,  Political Mail service type identifiers.

Ballot Mail and Political Mail tags and service type identifiers can be found on PostalPro.

The Election and Government Mail Services Blue page has more information.

The Freedom of Information Act gives the public the right to access records from the Postal Service and other federal agencies.

Except when it doesn’t.

In some cases, USPS and other agencies are exempt from disclosing information under the law, also known as FOIA.

For example, the organization can redact or withhold records to protect information of a commercial nature, such as competitive product metrics, negotiated terms in a business contract or records indicating carrier or delivery lines of travel. Other examples of commercial information and factors to consider in assessing whether information is commercial can be found in the Code of Federal Regulations.

Additionally, the Postal Service isn’t required to disclose privileged communications — such as information that would be protected during a court discovery process, or information that would violate attorney-client privilege — as well as information that might violate an employee’s right to privacy.

USPS employees and contractors should never publicly release information exempt from disclosure.

For more information or additional guidance, refer to the FOIA sections on Blue and usps.com or email the USPS Privacy and Records Management Office.