STATEMENT OF CLAIM: Claim of Joint Council Dining Car Employees, Local 516, on the property of the Great Northern Railway Company, for and on behalf of Waiter Robert Howelton, that he be restored to service and compensated for net wage loss with seniority and vacation rights unimpaired, account of Carrier dismissing Claimant from service on May 2, 1963, in abuse of its discretion and in violation of the Agreement.
OPINION OF BOARD: A threshold question presented here is whether this case is properly before this Board. In its initial submission Carrier urges that the case is improperly submitted by reason of the failure of the Organization to appeal within 9 months from the date of declination of the claim as required by the parties' Time Limit on Claims Agreement which, insofar as here pertinent, reads as follows:
The instant claim was appealed to the highest officer designated by the Carrier to handle claims on May 10, 1963. That officer denied the claim on May 15, 1963. By letter dated June 3, 1964, the Organization notified the Executive Secretary, Third Division, National Railroad Adjustment Board, of intention to file an ex parts submission on the unsettled dispute-more than 12 months after denial of the claim on May 15, 1963.
Although the foregoing factual statement is not refuted by Petitioner, it is stated that since Carrier discussed the claim on its merits in conferences subsequent to May 15, 1963, with the last conference being on March 27, 1964, such conduct on the part of Carrier in effect extended the time limit. However, the record contains nothing in writing from which an inference could be drawn indicating there was any intention on the part of Carrier to extend the time limit.
This Board has consistently held that where precise time limits exist, they must be complied with unless waived by the parties, but, neither an invitation to discuss a pending case nor the actual discussion, in and of themselves, can be interpreted as time limit extension agreements. (See Awards 7000, 10347, 10460, 11697, 11777 and 12417, among others.) The claim, therefore, is barred and will be dismissed.
FINDINGS: The Third Division of the Adjustment Board, upon the whole record and all the evidence, finds and holds:
That the Carrier and the Employe involved in this dispute are respectively Carrier and Employe 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