NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
THIRD DIVISION Docket Number CL-20062
Irwin M. Lieberman, Referee
(Brotherhood of Railway, Airline and Steamship Clerks,
( Freight Handlers, Express and Station Employees
PARTIES TO DISPUTE:
(Norfolk and Western Railway Company (Involving employees
( on lines formerly operated by the Wabash Railroad Cam( pany)
STATEMENT OF CLAIM: Claim of the System Committee of the Brotherhood (GL-7249)
that:
(1) Cxrier %i;al:ared the provisions of the Schedule for Clerks, effective May 1, 1953, when on May
provisions of Rule 28 (a) and the intent of Rule 28 (d) of the Schedule for
Clerks.
(2) Claimant shall now be paid for all time lost.
(3) In addition to amounts claimed above the Carrier shall pay
Claimant an additional amount of one per cent compounded monthly.
OPINION OF BOARD: Claimant was an assistant switching clerk in the Carrier's
Local Freight Office at Detroit,.Michigan. She was charged
with negligence in handling company business and failure to comply with the
instructions of the Chief Clerk to the Agent, in his request to her to take
certain phone billing on May 2, 1972. Following an investigative hearing on
May 17, 1972, Carrier found her guilty of the charge and assessed a penalty
of a five day suspension.
The Organization first argues that Claimant did not have a fair
hearing in that the Hearing Officer was the accuser, the interrogator at the
hearing and also the "judge and jury". The record of the hearing gives no
indication of a denial of due process by the hearing officer and there is no
rule support for Petitioner's position; even more significantly, this issue
was not raised by Petitioner on the property and may not now be introduced
for the first time (Awards 14641, 18656, 19101, 19746 and many others).
The essence of the matter was that on the day in question Claimant
was asked to take a billing by telephone by the Chief Clerk. She then informed
him that she had too much work, couldn't take it, and was going home sick and
left. She had worked the day before the incident and also on the following
day; the facts are not in dispute.
Award Number
1999$
Page 2
Docket Number CL-20062
The Board is not privileged to inquire into the motivation of
employes' acts when the record is silent. Further we are not disposed to
proclaim our expertise as psychologists, much less in the area of female
behavior. Hence the underlying factors in this case escape us. However,
on the face of it, the record indicates the Carrier had sufficient evidence
in the hearing to support its conclusion of guilt. The penalty imposed was
not excessive or arbitrary. We have no alternative but to deny the Claim.
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.
A W A R D
Claim, denied.
NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
By Order of Third Division
ATTEST:
xecutive Secretary
Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this 12th day of October
1973.