Foam 1 NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD Award No.
788+
SECOND DIVISION Docket No.
7587
2-C R-FO-'79
The Second Division consisted of the regular members and
in addition Referee Rolf Valtin when award was rendered.
( System Federation No. 109, Railway Employes'
( Department, A. F of L. - C. I. 0.
Parties to Dispute: ( (Firemen & Oilers)
(
( Consolidated Rail Corporation
Dispute: Claim of Employes:
1. That under the current agreement Fuel Operator (Laborer),
Robert Coney, Elizabeth Locomotive Shop, Elizabeth, New Jersey,
Consolidated Rail Corporation, was unjustly suspended from service
of the Carrier on date of March 20,
1976
and subsequently dismissed
from Carrier service as a result of investigation held on date
of April
6, 1976.
2. That accordingly, Mr. Robert Colley be made whole, restored to
Carrier service with all seniority rights, holidays, sick leave
benefits that are a condition of employment unimpaired, and
compensated fox all lost time as a result of such unjust suspension,
also reirnbuxsernent fox all losses suffered account loss of coverage
under health and welfare and life insurance agreements during the
time held out of service.
Findings:
The Second Division of the Adjustment Board, upon the whole record and
all the evidence, finds that:
The carrier or carriers and the employe ox employes involved in this
dispute are respectively carrier and employe within the meaning of the
Railway Labor Act as approved June 21,
193+.
This Division of the Adjustment Board has jurisdiction over the dispute
involved herein.
Parties to said dispute waived right of appearance at hearing thereon.
The claimant, a Laborer with about
19
years of service, was discharged
as of March 20,
1976.
At the tune of the incident leading to his discharge,
the claimant was employed as a Fuel Operator in the Elizabethport Enginehouse
at Elizabethport, New Jersey. He was discharged on the following charge:
"Insubordination to Foreman E. Szpila and violation of
General Rule K, 2nd paragraph, March 20,
1976."
Form 1
Page 2
Award No.
788+
Docket No.
7587
2-CR-FO-'
79
The record leaves no reasonable question that the claimant was guilty
of both verbal and physical abuse against the foreman. Apparently angered
over the fact that the foreman declined to excuse him from work on the night
in question, the claimant cursed the foreman, deliberately shoved him, and
then knocked the phone from his hand and spilled his coffee when he (the
foreman) called the police. The claimant's conduct was witnessed by two
other employees and was partially overheard by the police officer at the
other end of the phone. All three persons corroborated the foreman's
testimony at the hearing.
We are proceeding with awareness of the claimant's long service with
the Carrier. For two reasons, however, we do not believe that we can
legitimately let it operate to overturn the discharge. One is the extreme
nature of the claimant's offense on the night in question. The other is
that the claimant had beets guilty of serious insubordination about a year
earlier and had received a l5-day disciplinary suspension for it.
We overrule the organization's contention that the written charge on
the basis of which the claimant was discharged lacked sufficient specificity.
As shown, the charge gives the name of the foreman and the date of the
incident. In the light of what happened, there could not conceivably have
been any uncertainty as to the grounds for the discharge.
We also reject the organization's contention based on the multiple
roles of the hearing officer. We recently had occasion to deal with a
similar contention -- namely., in ATvrard P?o.
7611.
`^7e
refer the parties to the discussion of
over
approach in a contention of this
sort. We again conclude that the facts and circumstances in the present
case do not form a sufficient foundation for a holding that the discharge
defective for lack of a fair and impartial hearing. We note that the
claimant had to be removed from the hearing for his ugly conduct and that
his representative affirmed the propriety of the hearing.
Claim denied.
Attest: Executive Secretary
National Railroad Adjustment Board
A W A R D
NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
By Order of Second Division
'~marie Brasch - AcnninisWrative Assistant
Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this 4th day of April,
1979.
1S