NATIONAL PAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
THIRD DIVTSICdq Docket Number CL-20985
William M. Edgett, Referee
(Brotherhood of Railway, Airline and
( Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers,
( Express and Station Employee
PARTIES TO DISPUTE:
(Norfolk and Western Railway Company
S~ATEMERT CAS' CLAIM: Claim of the System Committee of the Brotherhood
(GL-7692) that:
1. Carrier violated the Agreement between the parties when on
February 11, 1974; they arbitrarily and capriciously assessed Clerk lf. M.
Seohm fifteen
(15)
days actual suspension.
2. Carrier's action was unjust, unreasonable and an abuse of
Carrier's discretion. The discipline was assessed without any proof whatever of the charges made.
3.
Carrier shall now compensate 9. M. Seohm for each day held out
of service, with seniority and all other rights unimpaired.
OPINION OF
HOARD: Claimant was suspended for a period of fifteen
(15)
days
after hearing in which carrier determined that he had
been engaged "in an altercation" which resulted in an injury to himself.
There were no eye witnesses to the incident and both claimant and the em
ploye who was allegedly responsible for claimant's injury testified that
claimant was inured when a paperweight fell from a stack of papers when the
other employe whirled around to answer the telephone which was ringing on
his nearby desk.
Carrier theorized that the other employe threw the paperweight,
which weighed one pound and was made of cast iron, a distance of approximately
ten (10) feet, striking claimant in the head. It based that belief in large
part on the testimony of another clerk who did not see, or hear, an altercation but who said that cl
to have been involved when he asked what had occurred.
Carrier, despite the paucity of the evidence,decided that the paperweight was thrown, not accidental
if that is true, the record is completely devoid of any evidence that claimant was anything other th
for being struck in the head, through no fault of his own, bas not been explained to the Board. Base
The claim is sustained.
Award Number 21104 page 2
Docket Number CL-20985
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.
A K A R D
Claim sustained.
1fATI0lfAL RAILROAD ADJUB214W HOARD
By Order of Third Division
ATTEST:
G_.
Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this 29th day of June 1976.