Docket No. MW-16421
NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
THIRD DIVISION
Nicholas Zumas, Referee
PARTIES TO DISPUTE:
BROTHERHOOD OF MAINTENANCE OF WAY EMPLOYES
GULF, MOBILE AND OHIO RAILROAD COMPANY
STATEMENT OF CLAIM:
Claim of the System Committee of the
Brotherhood that:
(1) The Carrier violated the Agreement when it refused to
reimburse Track Machine Operator R. D. West for breakfast,
dinner and/or lodging expenses incurred on July 2, 5, 6, 9, 11, 12,
16, 18, 19, 23, 25, 26, 30, August 1, 2, 6, 22, 23, 27, 29, 30, September 3, 26 and 27, 1965.
(2) The Carrier again violated the Agreement when it refused
to reimburse Track Machine Operator V. C. Easley for breakfast
and/or dinner expenses incurred on July 2, 6, 9, 12, 16, 19, 23, 26, 30,
August 2, 6, 9, 13, 16, 20, 23, 27, 30, September 3, 7, 10, 13, 17, 20,
24 and 27, 1965.
(3) The Carrier again violated the Agreement when it refused
to reimburse Track Machine Operator W. E. Meador for breakfast
and/or dinner expenses incurred on August 1, 2, 6, 8, 9, 13, 15, 16,
20, 22, 23, 24, 29 and 30, 1965.
(4) Track Machine Operator R. D. West now be paid $44.50 to
reimburse him for the expenses referred to in Part (1) of this claim.
(5) Track Machine Operator V. C. Easley now be paid $41.55 to
reimburse him for the expenses referred to in Part (2) of this claim.
(6) Track Machine Operator W. E. Meador now be paid $19.95 to
reimburse him for the expenses referred to in Part (3) of this claim.
EMPLOYES' STATEMENT OF FACTS: Each of the claimants has
established and holds seniority rights as a track machine operator. During
the periods involved here, Claimant West's headquarters was located at
New Augusta, Mississippi; Claimant Easley's headquarters was located at
Eupora, Mississippi; and Claimant Meador's headquarters was located at
Decatur, Mississippi. The Carrier directed the claimants to leave their respective headquarters and to perform track machine operators' work at the
.locations and during the periods specified below:
V. C. Easley
Breakfast: July 6, 12, 19, 26
August 2, 9, 16, 23, 30
September 7, 13, 20 and 27, 1965- 16.90
Dinner: July 2, 9, 16, 23, 30
August 6, 13, 20, 27
September 3, 10, 17, 24, 1956- 24.65
TOTAL
.. .. ..... . ... $41
.55
W. E. Meador
Breakfast: August 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30, 1965- 5.80
Dinner: August 1, 6, 8, 13, 15, 20, 22, 24,
29, 1965 - 14.15
TOTAL.
. .. .. . ....... . $19
.95
Claim was timely and property presented and handled by the Employes
at all stages of appeal, up to and including the Carrier's highest appellate
officer.
The Agreement in effect between the cwo parties to this dispute dated
April 28, 1950, together with supplements, amendments and interpretations
thereto is by reference made a part of this Statement of Facts.
CARRIER'S STATEMENT OF
FACTS: The claimants in this case
elected, for their own convenience, to leave their headquarters and go home
for the week-end. Claims are made for reimbursement for meals on various
Friday nights, Sunday nights, and Monday mornings when the employes
obtain such meals when traveling for their own convenience to and from
their homes.
The seniority of the track machine operators entitled them to work over
that part of the railroad known as Seniority Districts 1, 2, 3 and 4, extending from Mobile, Alabama to East St. Louis, Illinois, with a branch extending
to Artesia, Mississippi and Montgomery, Alabama. During the time of these
claims, the employes were operating track machines located at various points
on their seniority territory.
OPINION OF
BOARD: The question to be determined in this dispute
is whether, under the provisions of Rule 14(c), Claimants are entitled to be
reimbursed for Monday morning and Friday evening meals at times when
Claimants returned to their homes over weekends.
Rule 14(c) states:
"(c) When employes, enumerated in paragraphs (a) and (b) of
this rule, are taken away from camp outfits or headquarters to
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perform requiring variable hours, meals and lodging will be furnished at the company's expense."
During the times in question, Claimants were assigned as Track Machine
Operators, and lived, respectively, at New Augusta, Eupora, and Decatur,
Mississippi, and were required to perform their work at Sparta, Waterloo
and Red Bud, Illinois-each work station several hundred miles from home.
The record is clear that each of the Claimants was reimbursed for
meals and lodging, except for breakfast on Monday morning (or Tuesday
when a holiday occurred on Monday) and dinner on Friday evening.
"*
* * Rule 14 of the current Agreement does not require the
railroad company to reimburse track machine operators for meals
when such employes elect to leave their headquarters on the weekends and return to their homes."
Throughout Carrier asserts that the "headquarters" of the Claimants
was their work location, i.e., Sparta, Waterloo, and Red Bud, Illinois. Petitioner, on the other hand, contends that the homes of the Claimants were
their headquarters. Whether or not Petitioner is correct is not a determining
factor in this award.
Since Carrier reimbursed Claimants for all meals during the work week
(except, of course, the meals in dispute), it is clear that Carrier acknowledged that Claimants were working away from their headquarters. They are,
therefore, entitled to be compensated under Rule 14(c) of the Agreement for
the meals in dispute.
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 violated.
AWARD
Claim sustained.
NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
By Order of THIRD DIVISION
ATTEST: S. H. Schulty
Executive
Secretary
Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this
25th day of March 1969.
Keenan Printing Co., Chicago, Ill. Printed in U.S.A.
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