(Luther Hogan PARTIES TO DISPUTE: (Consolidated Rail Corporation ( (Former Penn Central Transportation Company)

 STATEMENT OF CLAIM: "This is to serve notice, as required by the
 rules of the National Railroad Adjustment Board,
 of my (Luther Hogan) intention to file an ex parte submission on
 covering an unadjusted dispute between me (Luther Hogan) and the
 Penn Central Transportation Company, for

Claim - 2 - Non payment of 20 day vacation pay (earned

in 1971 - to have been given in August 1972.






OPINION OF BOARD: Our review of the record indicates that claimant's
 petition is procedurally defective. This Board
 is precluded from considering this claim on its merits since petitioner
 has not complied with Section 3, First (i) of the Railway Labor Act
 or Circular No. 1 of the National Railroad Adjustment Board. The Act
 requires the claim to be handled in the "usual manner on the property
 up to and including the chief operating officer of the carrier . . ."



Petitioner has not observed either requirement, but submitted this claim directly to us.


The National Railroad Adjustment Board was created as the dispositive appellate body in the hierarchial grievance settlement chain. It is not the forum of first instance in grievance assertions. In Third Division Award_No. 22120, we held that,

        "Section 3, First (i) of the Railway Labor Act and Circular No. 1 of the National Railroad Adjustment Board require that disputes be handled in the usual manner as provided in the Parties' Agreement before they may be submitted to this Board for resolution. Inasmuch as Petitioners failed to progress the instant Claim in accordance with this prescribed procedure, we are barred from consideration of it. The Claim must be and is hereby dismissed."


(See also Third Division Awards 21627, 22318, 22304 and 22116 for similar analysis).

 This decisional principle is applicable to the fact specifics of this dispute. For these reasons; we are compelled to dismiss 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 Claim Is barred. i~ h. V


                                              <:

                                                    1

                    A W A R D ~~ fi?3u'. u:D

                                              ~~i`~


        Claim dismissed. i\ `.;:


                          NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSL ;ff-- .: .

                          By Order of Third Division


ATTEST:
        Executive Secretary


Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this 31st day of July 1979.