Form 1 HAT20NAh RAILROAD ADJUSTN2T1'?' BOARD Award No. 8320
SECOND DIVISION Docket No. 8184
2-SCL-ST? ' 80
The Second Division consisted of the regular members and in
addition Referee Rodney E. Dennis when award was rendered,
( Sheet Metal Workers International
( Association
Parties to Dispute:
(
( Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Company
Dispute: Claim of Employer:
1. Chief Medical Officer withheld claimant from service for reason not
related to illness.
2. That Carrier be ordered to compensate claimant for eight
(8)
hours pay
per day for regular assignment at pro rata rate.
3.
That Carrier compensate claimant for arty overtime he may have qualified
for at time and one-half rate of pay,
4. That carrier make claimant whole for any other contractual benefits he
may have been entitle to should he have been permitted to return to work.
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 or employes involved in this dispute
are respectively carrier and employe within the meaning of the Railway Labor Act
as approved June 21,
1934.
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, Rody E. Laboris, a sheet metal worker at carrier's Hialeah,
Florida, facility, was withheld from service from May 10,
1978
to December
19,
1978.
Carrier alleges that the claimant was withheld for medical reasons related
to alcoholism. The claimant claims that he was withheld from service on
suspicion only, that he is not an alcoholic, and that being withheld from service
without a proper hearing is unjust discipline.
From the record before us,, this Board must uphold. the position of the
organization. The claimant was released by his personal physician to return to
work on May
9, 1978,
He had been off as a result of a leg problem. Upon
returning, he was ordered to be examined by the carrier's chief medical officer
who smelled alcohol on the claimant's breath. He concluded that the claimant
had an alcoholism problem and refused to authorize his return to work.
Form 1
Page 2
Award No.8320
Docket No. 818+
2-SCL-SM-180
Based on the record, this board cannot conclude that claimant was an
alcoholic or that alcohol was a contributing factor in any way to the claimant's
attendance record. The examination given
the claimant
by the chief medical
officer provided insufficient grounds upon which to base the conclusion that the
claimant is or was an alcoholic, The record is barren of any clincial diagnosis
or examination to support the doctor's suspicion. The record is also barren of
arty attendance records about which this Board can make a judqnent as to the
severity of the claimant's attendance problem.
This Board has consistently taken the position that employee assistance
programs should be separated frcan disciplinary matters. Employees should not
b e disciplined for failure to attend these programs. It has also taken the
position that when a diagnosis of acute alcoholism is made and carrier places an
employee on extended medical leave, we will not interfere with those decisions.
This Board cannot be too strong in its insistence that the labelling of an
employee as an alcoholic must be based on clinical diagnosis, not mere suspicion.
This Board would also like to point out to the Claimant that he can be
discharged for absenteeism. This will be the result if he does not go to work
regularly, mend his ways, and avoid further problems with his employment.
Based on the record before us and our findings, this Board must uphold the
organization's claim.
A W A R D
Claim sustained.
Attest: Executive Secretary
National Railroad Adjustment Board
NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
By Order of Second Division
BY
r
~~r.~v_~ ~~- L i
i #Rosemarie Brasch - Administrative Assistant
Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this 16th day of April, 19800