PARTIES TO DISPUTE:

STATEMENT OF CLAIM: "Claim of the System Committee of the Brotherhood that:

 (1) The discipline (ten days of overhead suspension) imposed upon Messrs. J. J. Martin, M. R. Stratton, B. Corn and R. D. Ray for alleged 'failure to obey your supervisor's instructions' on March 11, 1980 was without just and sufficient cause and upon the basis of unproven charges (System File C-D-943/ Mc-2787).

 (2) The claimants' personal records shall be cleared of the charge leveled against them.

 OPINION OF BOARD: The claimants, four members of a track crew, were disciplined
 by imposition of a ten-day "overhead" suspension for their
 "failure to obey your supervisor's instructions" on March 11, 1980. The record
 of the investigative hearing. shows that the offense was of brief duration and
 under somewhat unusual circumstances, but the penalty determined by the Carrier
 was also of extremely light severity, giving no cause for the Board to disturb
 it.

 Involved herein was the operation of certain equipment required in track repair work. A Foreman was directed by his superior, the Assistant Track Supervisor, to order the crew to operate the equipment. The Foreman, however, admittedly did not issue such direct orders but apparently merely inquired as to the crew's willingness to operate the equipment. Thereafter, a Track Supervisor came to the scene. Again, direction to the Foreman (who is not a charged employe before the Board here) to order the crew was to no effect.

 The Track Supervisor then directed the Assistant Track Supervisor to order the crew to operate the equipment. There is some conflict in the testimony at the hearing as to the manner and effectiveness of the Assistant Track Supervisor's statement to the crew. The crew, however, failed to move to operate the equipment is response to him. When the Track Supervisor himself gave the order, the crew complied.

 The Board finds that the Carrier had sufficient basis to determine that there had been a failure to obey orders promptly. If the crew had some complaint as to the propriety of the order or the manner in which it was given, the well known remedy is to comply first and then to seek a remedy through the claim procedure. For a brief offense, a modest penalty was imposed.
                      Docket Number hb1-24180


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 Employee within the meaning of the Railway labor Act, as approved June 21, 193+;

 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 ADJVSTNENT BOARD

                            By Order of Third Division


Attest: Acting Executive Secretary
        National Railroad Adjustment Board


By `~y' ~,.. . ~.~,Z ~ . /r . -i~
        Rosemarie Brasch - Administrative Assistant


Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this 14th day of January 1983.