NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
THIRD DIVISION Docket Number MW-21470
Irwin M. Lieberman, Referee
(Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes
PARTIES TO DISPUTE:
(Chicago and North Western Transportation Company
STATEMENT OF CLAIM: Claim of the System Committee of the Brotherhood that:
(1) The dismissal of Trackman F. J. Blada, Jr. for alleged
"violation of Rule 'G "' was arbitrary, without just and sufficient cause
and on the basis of unproven charges (System File D-11-1-302).
(2) Claimant F. J. Blade, Jr. be accorded the benefits prescribed in Agreement Rule 19(d).
OPINION OF BOARD: Claimant was dismissed for alleged violation of Rule
"G" after an investigation. He had six months service with Carrier.
The initial question before us is whether or not there was substantial evidence adduced at the i
of the hearing indicates that there was testimony, unsabutted, that Claimant's breath smelled of alc
the evidence that the contents of the jug had been analyzed and found to
contain "ethyl alcohol". Claimant, of course, denied that he had been
drinking though admitting at the investigation that he had taken a drink
out of the jug is question. The contradiction in the evidence relates
to the contents of the thermos jug; the testimony of the two Carrier
officers that it contained wine as against the report from the testing
laboratory that it contained ethyl alcohol. Regardless of the apparent
discrepancy, it is quite evident that the jug did contain an intoxicating
beverage of some type and further that Claimant did drink from it, while
on duty. We must conclude therefore that on a prima facie basis Carrier
has established a violation of Rule "G". Petitioner's contention that
there was no indication of how the thermos got on the property with the
alcohol in it is not relevant to the basic issue of the dispute.
In the light of the implications of the particular rule violation and Claimant's short service w
for disturbing Carrier's penalty: it was not arbitrary or capricious.
Award Number 21292 Page 2
Docket Number MW-21470
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:
Executive Secretary
Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this 12th day of November 1976.