Form 1
NATIONAL RAIIROAD ADJUSTMENT
BOARD Award No.
8634
SECOND DIVISION Docket No.
8412
2-NRPC-FO-181
The Second Division consisted of the regular members and in
addition Referee Paul C. Carter when award was rendered.
International Brotherhood of Firemen and Oilers
Parties to Dispute:
(National Railroad Passenger Corporation
Dispute: Claim of Employes:
(1) That Amtrak erred and violated the contractual rights of Walter C.
Jeffers, when they removed him from service on September
5,
1978 by
letter.
(2)
That, therefore Mr. Jeffers be returned to service with all rights,
privileges and benefits restored.
(3) That he be made whole for all health and welfare benefits, pension
benefits, unemployment and sickness benefits and any other benefits he
would have earned had he not been removed from service.
(4) Further, that he be compensated for all lost time, including overtime
and holiday pay plus
6°%
annual interest on all lost wages and that such
lost time be counted as vacation qualifying time.
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 entered the Carrier's service on April 1, 1978, and was
employed as tractor operator at Carrier's Redondo Junction, California Maintenance
Facility.
The Carrier states that on August
3,
1978, Claimant was granted a leave of
absence through August 17, 1978, and the leave was subsequently extended to
August
28, 1978.
Claimant did not return to work on August
28
and on September
5,
1978, he was notified that he was considered as having resigned from the service
pursuant to Rule 30 (b) of the applicable collective bargaining Agreement, which
provides
"(b) Employees who absent themselves from work for five days
without notifying the Company shall be considered as having
resigned from the service and will be removed from the
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Award No. 8634
Docket No. 8412
2-NRPC-FO-181
"seniority roster unless they furnish the Company
evidence of physical incapacity as demonstrated by
a release signed by a medical doctor or that circumstances
beyond their control prevented such notification."
The Organization contends that claimant should have been granted an
investigation under the Discipline Rule (Rule 25) of the Agreement.
It is well settled that this Board, being an appellate tribunal, may only
consider the issues that were raised on the property, and both parties are
precluded from proffering evidence for the first time when the dispute is referred
to this W,aard. Under this principle, Organization's Exhibit '"B" may not be
considered.
As to the merits of Lhe dispute, the Board finds Rule 30(b) to be a selfexecuting rule and that discipline under Rule 25 was not involved. See recent
Award No. 8220 involving the same parties, also Awards
7429
and 7578 of this
Division.
We find no violation of the time limit rule as the grievance in claimant's
behalf was handled within the time limits specified in Rule 26.
We find that the Carrier's action was not in violation of the Agreement.
A W A R D
Claim denied.
Attest: Executive Secretary
National Railroad Adjustment Board
NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
By Order of Second Division
;osemarie Brasch - Administrative Assistant
Date at Chicago, Illinois, this 25th day of February,
1981.