NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
THIRD DIVISION Docket Number MW-23931
(Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes
PARTIES To DISPUTE;
(Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Company
STATEMENT OF CLAIM* "Claim of the System Committee of the Brotherhood that:
(1) The suspension of ten (10) days imposed upon TracloDan
J. B. Stephens was without dust end sufficient cause (System File C-4(13)-TBS/12-39
(79-33) J)·
(2) The charges leveled against the claimant be stricken from his
record and he shall be compensated for all rage loss suffered."
OPINION OF HOARD: The claimant protests the assessment of ten days of actual
suspension for absence from service without permission and
for unbecoming and uncivil conduct.
The organization contends that the record does not support the charges
and the discipline imposed.
The facts elicited in the investigation ere not in dispute.
The claimant conceded that he did not notify his supervisor that he
would not report for work. $e explained that his rife had become very ill and
he could not leave the house to call the office. $e also admitted that he
ordered the Roadmaster in profane language to leave his property rhea the Roadmaster visited his hom
affil
badgered him about his failure to notify the office.
The Board concludes that the charges are supported by substantial
evidence of probative nature and that the penalty assessed was not excessive.
Accordingly, the claim must be denied.
This Board has often stated that employes have a fundamental responsibility to notify their supervis
absenteeism on the railroads 3s s serious offense. While the claimant may have
had good reason to believe that he should be absent, he could not choose to
remain away from work without permission. Nor was this his first offense, for
Award Number 23919
Docket Number MW-23931
Page 2
he had received warnings on three prior occasions about unauthorized absence.
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 Employee involved is 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.
Claim denied.
ATTEST: Acting Executive Secretary
National Railroad Adjustment Board
NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUS24ENT BOARD
By Order of Third Division
By
~-sC_/
emarie Brasch - Administrative Assistant
Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this 30th day of June 19a2·
