BY JOHN REID BLACKWELL

Times-Dispatch Staff Writer

The NAACP has asked the FBI to investigate assertions by several U.S. Postal Service employees that they were pressured to hide or discard mail to conceal delivery problems at Richmond-area operations.

At an NAACP news conference today, two employees and a retiree claimed that "unrealistic goals" for delivering mail had prompted employees to discard bulk business mail or hide undelivered mail and falsify work-hour reports.

"Since 2001, I have been encouraged by higher-level management to participate in activities that are both morally and legally wrong," said Harold S. Moss Jr., a customer-service supervisor in the Postal Service's Richmond-area operations.

Moss alleged that he has suffered retaliation from management for refusing to discard, hide or delay mail, including a demotion in his responsibilities, but not his title or pay.

"We are asked to do things that basically are humanly impossible, so consequently they take shortcuts, and I refuse to do that," Moss said, adding that the activities were going at several postal stations where he has worked, though he declined to name them and provide details.

Naomi Hafis, who retired as a supervisor from local postal operations in 2006, and Tommy T. Baughman, another local postal supervisor, backed Moss' claims.

Cathy Boulé, a Richmond-area spokeswoman for the Postal Service, said, "Mr. Moss has made allegations in the past, and they have all been addressed and dismissed." Boulé said the Postal Service's Office of Inspector General, which investigates complaints, was aware of no new allegations.

Independent surveys of customers have indicated more than 93 percent satisfaction with mail service in Richmond-area ZIP codes the last four fiscal quarters, she said.

In 2006, Moss filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Richmond against the Postal Service claiming his managers had retaliated against him after he complained about improper practices. A judge dismissed the lawsuit in May, but Moss said he is appealing.

King Salim Khalfani, executive director of the NAACP's Virginia Conference, said the civil-rights group got involved "because the people came to us."

"We have heard from others who are afraid of retaliation," he said. "They want an impartial investigation, so why not ask the Federal Bureau of Investigation to do that?" He wrote a letter to the FBI's Richmond office on April 1 seeking an investigation.

Jennifer Love Smith, the FBI's special agent in charge in Richmond, had received Khalfani's letter on Friday but had not had an opportunity to speak with him by this afternoon, said Dennette Rybisky, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Richmond office.

"Until they have an opportunity to talk, we really can't discuss it," she said.

Contact John Reid Blackwell at jblackwell@timesdispatch.com.