In the USA, you normally only need to send 3 letters of recommendation: 1. One of them should be your dissertation supervisor (if diss < 5 years old) 2. One should be a current supervisor (such as your new postdoc advisor) 3. One should be from a committee member or someone else who knows your work well As long as you have three, I think you're fine in not including a letter from the postdoc advisor that you're having problems with. **tl;dr:** Letters of recommendation are used to indicate that **some** (at least three) faculty think highly of you, not necessarily that **all** do.