North Texas postal worker's death prompts calls for extreme heat protections
AUBREY, Texas - Funeral services were held on Thursday for the postal worker who died whole on his route in Little Elm on an extremely hot day.
And now there’s a push to change policies to protect employees who work in extreme temperatures.
Little Elm Postal Worker Death
What's new:
Family, friends, and co-workers gathered on Thursday afternoon to pay their final respects to Umeshkumar Thakkar of Aubrey.
The 58-year-old postal worker died on Monday after collapsing while delivering mail in a Little Elm neighborhood.
What we know:
Video from a camera at the corner of Thornhill Lane and Graystone Drive shows Thakkar's USPS truck parked with its hazard lights on around 12:20 p.m. Around 2 p.m., someone called 911 to report that he had passed out in his truck and was unresponsive.
Officials administered CPR, but Thakkar was pronounced dead.
Postal worker dies during shift in Little Elm
A USPS worker died after collapsing in Little Elm earlier this week, but it's unclear if his death was related to the scorching temperatures across North Texas this week.
What they're saying:
Thakkar was represented by the National Rural Letter Carrier’s Association. In a letter to FOX 4, the union said it is heartbroken over his passing.
What we don't know:
The United States Postal Service has not said whether Thakkar’s death was heat-related, but there was a heat advisory in place that day with triple-digit temperatures crippling North Texas.
An autopsy should confirm Thakkar’s official cause of death.
Heat Illness Prevention
Big picture view:
USPS does have a heat illness prevention program designed to protect employees from heat exhaustion and heat stroke by educating them on how to stay safe during the summer heat.
Over the past few years, USPS has faced scrutiny over worker safety in North Texas.
In 2023, USPS was fined after 66-year-old Eugene Gates collapsed during his Dallas postal route and later died at the hospital. Extreme heat exposure and heart disease were determined to be his cause of death.
And in 2025, USPS union members testified in front of Congress about heat concerns after 51-year-old Jacob Taylor collapsed and died on his Dallas postal route.
What they're saying:
"Delivery drivers are more at risk because, first of all, a lot of times, their vehicles aren't air conditioned. Or they're supposed to be air conditioning, but it's broken. They're also out of the vehicle all the time. So even if it is air conditioned, they do a lot walking around. They may be carrying heavy things. They're basically outdoors in a semi-open vehicle for much of the day. And they don't necessarily get breaks. There's often a lot of pressure on them to deliver quickly," said David Arkush, the director of the Public Citizens Climate Program, a work health and safety advocacy group.
Public Citizen has been advocating for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to write a specific rule protecting workers from situations that could lead to heat-related injuries or deaths.
It was in motion during the Biden administration but has stalled during the current administration.
The Source: The information in this story comes from Umeshkumar Thakkar funeral service, the work health and safety advocacy group Public Citizens Climate Program, a statement from the National Rural Letter Carrier’s Association, and past news coverage.