Form 1 NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
SECOND DIVISION
Award No. 13527
Docket No. 13405
00-2-98-2-931
The Second Division consisted of the regular members and in addition Referee
Herbert L. Marx, Jr. when award was rendered.
(Brotherhood Railway Carmen Division
( Transportation Communications International Union
PARTIES TO DISPUTE: (
(Union Pacific Railroad Company
STATEMENT OF CLAIM:
"Claim
of
the Committee of the Union that:
1. Carrier was in violation of, but not limited to, Article X-Personal
Leave (Shop Crafts National Agreements December 11, 1981)
Section 2, Paragraph (A), (B) and (C), on December 20,1997, when
the Carrier failed to compensate Claimant Mr. R. D. Ogle at his
regular rate of pay for Personal Leave day at the Council Bluffs
Terminal, 1A.
2. Carrier shall compensate R. D. Ogle, the Claimant, for eight (8)
hours' pay at the current rate."
FINDINGS:
The Second Division
of
the Adjustment Board, upon the whole record and all the
evidence, finds that:
The carrier or carriers and the employee or employees involved in this dispute
are respectively carrier and employee within the meaning of the Railway Labor Act, ass
approved June 21, 1934.
This Division of the Adjustment Board has jurisdiction over the dispute involved
herein.
Parties to said dispute were given due notice
of
hearing thereon.
Form 1 Award No. 13527
Page 2 Docket No. 13405
00-2-98-2-93
On December 15, 1997, the Claimant submitted a written request for a personal
leave day to be taken on December 20, 1997. The request was denied. The Claimant
nevertheless did not report for work on December 20, 1997, and was not paid for the
day.
The Organization initiated a claim on behalf of the Claimant seeking eight hours"
pay for December 20, 1997. The only basis for such claim can be that (a) the Claimant
was unequivocally entitled to be granted a personal leave day on December 20; and (b;l
having been denied such leave, he had the unilateral right to take the day off anyway
and to be paid for it. Neither of these premises has any contractual support.
Article X-Personal Leave, Section 2, of the December 11, 1981 Nations
Agreement states in pertinent part as follows:
"(a)Personal leave days provided in section 1 may be taken upon 48 hours'
advance notice from the employee to the proper carrier officer provided,
however, that such days may be taken only when consistent with the
requirements of carrier's service. 1t is not intended that this condition
prevent an eligible employee from receiving personal leave day except
when request for leave is so late in calendar year that service requirements
prevent the employee's utilization of any personal leave days before end of
year."
The Claimant made his request in timely fashion. Subsection (a), however,
preserves the Carrier's right to deny such leave. First, personal leave must be
"consistent with the requirements of carrier's service." The Carrier asserted such
requirement; in the Claimant's absence, his position was filled. Second, the loss of an
employee's utilization of personal leave may occur based on service requirements if, as
here, the request comes "so late in [the] calendar year."
Had the Claimant accepted the denial and reported for work on December 20, a
claim for loss of personal leave might have required further proof from the Carrier as
to "service requirements." By simply absenting himself, the Claimant has no basis to
seek pay for unapproved absence.
AWARD
Form 1 Award No. 1352'7
Page 3 Docket No. 1340'.5
00-2-98-2-93
Claim denied.
ORDER
This Board, after consideration
of
the dispute identified above, hereby orders that
an award favorable to the Claimants) not be made.
NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
By Order
of
Second Division
Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this 27th day of July, 2000.