Form 1 NATIONAL
RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT
BOARD Award No.
8375
SECOND DIVISION Docket No.
8020
2-N&W-CM-' 80
The Second Division consisted. of the regular members and in
addition Referee Wesley A. Wildman when award was rendered,
( System Federation No. 16, Railway Employes'
Parties to Dispute: ( Department, A, F, of L. - C. I. 0.
( (Carmen)
(
( Norfolk and Western Railway Company
Dispute: Claim of Employes:
1. That under the controlling Agreement Cayman R. Sanders was unjustly
assessed a five
(5)
day actual suspension on March
14, 1977,
as a
result of investigation held February 10,
1977,
at Chicago, Illinois.
2. That the carrier be ordered to remove the five
(5)
day actual
suspension from
Cayman R. Sanders' service record, compensate him
for all time lost account unjust discipline, make him whole for all
seniority rights and all other rights and privileges he would have
received had he not been unjustly assessed the five
(5)
day actual
suspension.
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 Tabor 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.
On February
4, 1977,
Assistant Car Foreman Preiss filed charges against
the Claimant for "... improper performance of duties in that trailer X'rRZ
279670
loaded and secured by you on February 1,
1977
on the "B" hitch of car
TTX1587`il,
hitch, unlocked and defective (sic)".
Claimant was properly notified of charges, hearing date, and his right
4L-lo
witnesses. Inter, the Claimant was to charge that many of the Carrier's exhibits
introduced as evidence were illegible and Claimant was unable to determine if
they were factual.
The Board, too, is unable to read or decipher many of the xerox
photocopy
exhibits offered into evidence at the hearing. However, the charges as to a
specific car and trailer locking device not being properly secured are clear :in
the charge letter and were adequately specified at the beginning of the
investigative hearing on the property. Two legible written documents offered
into evidence were, 1), the Charge Sheet, made out by the following shift
Form 1
Page 2
Award No. 8315
Docket No. 8020
2-N&W-CM-' 80
foreman which clearly states that the car in question was improperly hooked to
the trailer, and, 2 ), a "Daily hog of Loaded Trailers", filled out and signed by
the Claimant which clearly lists the car in question as having been loaded by
Claimant.
The only possible credible reason offered by Claimant at the hearing as to
how the error in question might conceivably have been made was that the Claimant
was working at the time in a snow-storm at near zero temperatures.
It is the judgment of the Board that there is quite substantial evidence on
the record in this case indicating that the Claimant was well informed as to
proper hooking procedures, and that he was, indeed, the employee responsible
for the mis-hooking of the car and trailer in question. Adverse weather
conditions are, of course, nothing more than an occasionally unfortunate
condition of work, and do not in this instance constitute an excuse for inadequate
work performance.
Given the potentially severe consequences of Claimant's oversight as
substantiated in this record, it is the judgment of the Board that the five
(5)
day suspension disciplinary penalty meted out to Claimant does not constitute
inappropriate, arbitrary or capricious discipline by Carrier.
AWARD
Claim denied,
Attest: Executive Secretary
National Railroad Adjustment Board.
NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
By Order of Second Division
By
osemarie Brasch - Administrative Assistant
Date at Chicago, Illinois, this 11th day of June,
1980.