NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
PARTIES TO DISPUTE:
BROTHERHOOD OF RAILWAY AND STEAMSHIP CLERKS,
FREIGHT HANDLERS, EXPRESS AND STATION EMPLOYES
WESTERN MARYLAND RAILWAY COMPANY
STATEMENT OF CLAIM:
Claim of the System Committee of the
Brotherhood (GL-5121) that:
(1) Carrier violated the current Clerks' Agreement when it
arbitrarily and improperly dismissed Freight Handler W. J.
McCoy without just cause and refused to grant further hearing
when requested.
(2) Freight Handler W. J. McCoy be restored to service with
all other rights unimpaired and his record cleared.
(3) W. J. McCoy shall now be reimbursed for all wage loss
sustained on and after September 21, 1961, as a consequence of
Carrier's actions.
OPINION OF BOARD:
Claimant was employed as a Freight Handler. At the time of his discharge for intoxication on September 29, 1961
he had about one year and eight months of service with the Carrier. His
seniority date was January 5, 1960.
There is no dispute about the facts. Claimant was under the influence
of alcoholic intoxicants. This was firmly established by evidence of his
co-workers, by a doctor's certification after a medical examination, including a blood test, and by the Claimant's own admission. The fact that
the Claimant allegedly imbibed in alcoholic beverages during his lunch
hour, away from his work premises is not, in itself, a sufficient defense,
since he was obliged to and did report to work after his lunch period.
It was then that his intoxicating condition was discovered.
The Organization's claim that the investigation of the discharge was
not properly conducted is without merit. A reading of the entire record
discloses no prejudicial error. The Claimant and his representatives were
given every opportunity to present their case and they did so. It was
not necessary for the physician, who examined the Claimant, to be
present.
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In view of the fact that the Claimant's term of service with the
Carrier was of a short duration, the penalty of discharge was not harsh
and excessive. Awards 10258 (Harwood), 8711 (Weston) and others.
FINDINGS:
The Third Division of the Adjustment Board, upon the
whole record and all the evidence, finds and holds:
That the parties waived oral hearing;
That the Carrier and the Employes involved in this dispute are respectively Carrier and Employes within the meaning of the Railway Labor
Act, as approved June 21, 1934;
That this Division of the Adjustment Board has jurisdiction over the
dispute involved herein; and
That the Agreement was not violated.
AWARD
Claim denied.
NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
By Order of THIRD DIVISION
ATTEST: S. H. Schulty
Executive Secretary
Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this 20th day of November 1962.