NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
THIRD DIVISION Docket Number SG-24402
(Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen
PARTIES TO DISPUTE:
(Norfolk and Western Railway Company
STATEMNT OF CLAIM: "Claim of the General Committee of the Brotherhood of
Railroad Signalmen on the Norfolk and Western Railway Company:
That Leading Signalmen W. P. Bath be paid for all time lost due to
five day actual suspension assessed for his alleged violation of Carrier Safety
Rules 1041 and 1002 on the dates of June 5th and 18th, 1980."
OPINION OF BOARD: The Claimant was assessed a five-day suspension as a penalty
for violation of Safety Rules by failure, while at nw k as a
Lead Signal Maintainer, to wear a hard hat on two occasions and a shirt on a
third occasion.
The Organization contends that the penalty was unjustified, because the
hard hat rule was rendered "almost inoperative" through "loose enforcement" and
the shirt requirement did not exist.
We find clear support in the record for the hard hat charge. The
Claimant has admitted that he failed to wear his hard hat in knowing disregard
of the rule and of his Supervisor's direct instructions.
We do not, however, find sufficient support in the record to sustain
the charge of rule violation with respect to the failure to wear a shirt. The
rule the Carrier relies upon requires employes to be "suitafy clothed" for safe
performance of duties and specifically regulates the kind of clothing that may
safely be worn. In our view, the regulation as to shirts specifies what is the
suitable way a shirt can safety be worn at work. It does not affirmatively
require that a shirt actually be worn as a safety measure.
The sole issue remaining is whether the five-day penalty for the
violation of the hard hat rule alone was fair and reasonable on the evidence shown.
We conclude that it was not. While affirming, once again, the compelling
importance of compliance with safety rules, we nevertheless believe, in view of
the Claimant's-32 years of service without any evidence of prior discipline,
that a three-day suspension is appropriate. Our Award will so provide.
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;
Award Number 24246 Page 2
Docket Number SG-24402
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 discipline was excessive.
A W A R D
Claim sustained in accordance with the Opinion.
NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
By Order of Third Division
Attest: Acting Executive Secretary
National Railroad Adjustment Board
Rosemarie Brasch - Administrative Assistant
Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this 23rd day of March
1983,
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