Form 1 NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD Award No. 11484
SECOND DIVISION Docket No. 10661
88-2-84-2-146
The Second Division consisted of the regular members and in
addition Referee Robert W. McAllister when award was rendered.
(Brotherhood Railway Carmen of the United States and Canada
PARTIES TO DISPUTE:
(Soo Line Railroad Company
STATEMENT OF CLAIM:
1. That under the current agreement the Soo Line Railroad Company
violated Rules 10 and 98, when the Soo Line Railroad Company improperly
relieved Carmen G. Erickson, D. Perish, J. Coldren and M. Sjoberg, regular
assigned wrecking crew members at Shoreham Shops, Minneapolis, Minnesota from
5:30 P.M. January 19, 1983 to 7:00 A.M. January 20, 1983, after completing
wrecking assignment at Bowlus, Minnesota and waiting to depart for a second
assignment at Genola, Minnesota.
2. That accordingly, the Soo Line Railroad Company be ordered to
additionally compensate the aforenamed Carmen for thirteen (13) and one half
hours each at the rate of time and one-half for time waiting between assignments from 5:30 P.M. January 19, 1983 to 7:00 A.M. January 20, 1983.
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 employees involved in this
dispute are respectively carrier and employes 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 four Claimants are wrecker crewmen assigned to the Carrier's
Shoreham Shops in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Claimants worked at Bowlus,
Minnesota, on January 18 and 19, 1983, as ground crew for an outside contractor and loaded wrecked car bodies into flat cars in addition to clearing up they
site. The record establishes the Claimants tied up at 5:30 P.M. at Bowlus
upon completion of the clearing of the derailment site. Thereafter, the
Claimants were lodged at Little Falls, Minnesota and required to report to
another derailment site at Genola at 7:00 A.M.
Form 1 Award No. 11484
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The Organization argues that, by failing to compensate the Claimants
from 5:30 P.M. to 7:00 A.M., the Carrier violated the applicable Agreement
rules relating to emergency road service. Rule 10, Paragraph 5 reads:
"Wrecking service employees will be paid under this
rule, except that all time working, waiting, or
traveling on rest days and holidays will be paid
for at rate of time and one-half, and all time
working, waiting, or traveling, on assigned work
days after the recognized straight time hours at
home station will also be paid for at rate of time
and one-half."
The Organization asserts that Rule 10, Paragraph 3 is not applicable
to this claim because the Bowlus wreck assignment was completed, and the crew
was held over for the Carrier's convenience. Furthermore, the Organization
contends the Carrier failed to show the Claimants were in need of rest.
The Carrier contends the Claimants were properly relieved. It argues
that Rule 10, Paragraph 3, authorizes the Carrier to relieve men from duty for
five or more hours and permit them to go to bed.
In contending the Claimants were held over for the convenience of the
Carrier, the Organization cites Second Division Awards 9428 and 8434. In
Award 9428, the Claimants were dispatched to assist in rerailment activities
at the end of their regular tour of duty at 3:30 P.M. Upon their arrival at
the derailment site about 8:00 P.M., the Claimants were relieved from duty,
furnished food and lodging and instructed to be at the site at 6:00 A.M. The
Beard sustained the claim for ten (10) hours of compensation reasoning that
relief for a minimum of five hours of rest applies to time during an extended
rerailment operation "and not prefatory to such operation." Award 8434 with a
slightly different fact situation is in line with the reasoning of Award 9428.
The parties herein were involved in an identical claim by the assigned wrecker engineer of the Shoreham Shops wrecking crew. That Claimant was
called to the derailment work at Bowlus and Genola on January 18, 1983. He
refused because he would have to work as a groundman. The second portion of
that claim was for the identical thirteen and one-half hours time and one-half
claim presented by this case; i.e., from 5:30 P.M. on January 19 to 7:00
A.M., January 20, 1983. In dismissing the claim in Award 10995, the Board
stated in pertinent part:
"The final issue to be addressed is whether the
time spent by the crew during the evening is
waiting time as provided under Rule 10, Paragraph
5, relief time. Under Rule 10, Paragraph 5, waiting time is required to be paid 'at rate of time
and one-half.' There is no Rule of the Agreement
Form 1 Award No. 11484
Page 3 Docket No. 10661
88-2-84-2-146
that prohibits the Carrier from relieving a Wrecker
from duty for rest and allowing such Wrecker to go
to bed while en route to the work location. In the
judgment of the Board, the Claimants were relieved
for the purpose of taking a rest after having work
ed 10.5 hours at Bowlus. As stated in Second
Division Award No. 1991:
'Part 2 of the claim is without merit. Rule
10 applies to wrecking service employees in
sofar as pay is concerned, except that such
employees are entitled to pay at the time and
one-half rate under certain conditions. The
pertinent part of Rule 10 is that which per
mits the Carrier to relieve a man from duty
and permits him to go to bed far five (5) or
more hours. Such relief time is not to be
paid for.'"
The Board reaffirms its decision in the above Award and further
concludes the reasoning set forth is distinctly distinguishable from the facts
presented in Second Division Awards 9428 and 8434.
A W A R D
Claim denied.
NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
By Order of Second Division
Attest. .~ ~G.GC ..
'Nancy J. D - Executive Secretary
Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this 15th day of June 1988.