NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
THIRD DIVISION Docket Number CL-19613
Irwin M. Lieberman, Referee
(Brotherhood of Railway, Airline and Steamship Clerks,
( Freight Handlers, Express and Station Employes
PARTIES TO DISPUTE:
(Southern Railway Company
STATEMENT OF CLAIM: Claim of the System Committee of the Brotherhood (GL-7053)
that:
(a) Carrier violated the Agreement at Atlanta, Georgia, when it failed
to assign Mr. T. L. Tollison, Clerk in the Office of Manager, Car Accounting, to
the excepted Chief Clerk position in that office and in lieu thereof assigned Mr.
W. F. Daniell, an employe from the Office of Manager, Customer Accounting.
(b) Mr. Tollison shall be compensated the difference in his rate of
pay, which at the time of the claim was $26.88 per day (monthly average rate
$584.64) and that of the Chief Clerk, which at that time was $770.00 a month,
beginning May 3, 1969, and continuing until he is assigned to the position of
Chief Clerk.
OPINION OF BOARD: The claimant had been an employe of the Carrier for some
forty years, with all of his service in the same department.
The position of Chief Clerk (Foreign Claims), Office of Manager Car Accounting,
in Carrier's General Office, Atlanta, Ga., became vacant as a result of the regu
lar incumbent retiring. The position involved is an excepted position, subject
to being filled under the provisions of Rule 15, which reads:
"RULE 15.
PROMOTION, VACANCIES OR NEW POSITIONS
NOT FILLED BY SENIORITY
(Revised, effective October 1, 1938).
"Promotions, vacancies or new positions (either
excepted or schedule) which are not filled by seniority
shall be filled as follows:
Qualifications, merit and capacity being equal,
preference shall be given employee in the service in
order of their service age, the appointing officer to be
the judge, subject to appeal to the highest officer designated by the Carrier to whom appeals may be
whose decision shall be final."
Award Number 19555 Page 2
Docket Number CL-19613
The claimant was interviewed by the officers in charge and considered
for the position, which was assigned to W, F. Daniell, who had been working for
the Carrier for about two years. Claim was then filed that Carrier violated the
Agreement when it failed to appoint the Claimant to the position.
The Division has considered a number of disputes between the same parties involving the applicat
15387 (Dorsey) we held that Rule 15 vests Carrier with the absolute right to determine qualifica
15929 (Ives).
It is well settled that the Board must apply agreements as written and
may not, through the guise of interpretation, attempt to amend or alter the terms
thereof. Under the clear provisions of Rule 15 the Board is precluded from substituting its judgment
positions filled under the provision of that rule. We have no alternative but to
deny the claim.
FINDINGS: The Third Division of the Adjustment Board, after giving the parties
to this dispute due notice of hearing thereon, and upon the whole
record and all the evidence, finds and holds:
That the Carrier and the Employee involved in this dispute are
respectively Carrier and Employee 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.
A W A R D
Claim denied.
NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
By Order of Third Division
ATTEST:
16
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1Z
Executive Secretary
Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this 10th day of January 1973.
