NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTIE i4IT BOARD
THIRD DIVISION Docket Number MW-24553
(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 dismissal of Bridge Mechanic D. R. Heathcock for use of
'Exxon Credit Card 409-350-0124 assigned to SCL vehicle 611656 to purchase
gasoline pumped into your personal vehicle' on May
8,
1980 was without just and
sufficient cause and an abuse of justice and discretion by the Carrier (System
File C-4(1,3)-DRH/12-39 (80-62) G).
(2) The claimant shall be reinstated with seniority and all other
rights unimpaired, his record be cleared and he shall be compensated for all wage
loss suffered.
OPINION OF BOARD: Claimant was employed by Carrier as a Traveling Metal Bridge
Mechanic. During the week of May
8,
1980, Claimant was assisting
Bridge Gang 7817 in the Tampa, Florida, area. Claimant was responsible for the
vehicle assigned to him, identified as SCL Vehicle No. 611656.
On May
13,
1980, Claimant was charged:
"You are hereby charged with violation of portions of the
following Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Company Rules: Rule
G-1 of OPERATING RTJIES as it pertains to disloyalty and
dishonesty. Rule 64 of RULES AND INSTRUCTIONS GOVERNING
THE USE AND OPERATION OF HIGHWAY VEHICLES as it pertains to
use of credit cards for use with specific vehicle, and Rule 18
of SAFETY EMS FOR ENGINEERING AND MAINTENANCE OF WAY
EMPLOYEES as it pertains to disloyalty and dishonesty.
Specifically, you were disloyal and dishonest in that on the
date of May 8, 1980, you did use
Exxon
Credit Card 409-350-Ol24
assigned to SCL Vehicle 611656 to purchase gasoline pumped into
your personal vehicle bearing Alabama registration PHJ 120 which
act steals from the Railroad Company, falsifies records of
expenditure, is detrimental to Company interests and is
illegal under public law.
You will be granted a hearing by the Engineer of Bridges
on Friday, May
?3,
1980, at Tampa Division office building
in Tampa, Florida. You may have representation if you so
desire in accordance with the BROTHERHOOD OF MAINTENANCE OF
WAY EMPhOMEES AGREEMENT under which you are employed. You
may arrange to have present any witnesses who have knowledge
Award Number 24274 Page 2
Docket Number MW-24553
of this matter, however, it will be your responsibility
to arrange for their notification and attendance at
the hearing. Your personal record will be reviewed at
said meeting.
Inasmuch as violation of Operating Rule G-1 and Safety
Rule
18 '... will
subject the offender to dismissal', you
were held out of service beginning on May
9, 1980,
pending
results of the hearing."
The investigation was postponed and conducted on June
4., 1980,
following
which Claimant was notified of his dismissal on June 10,
1980.
A copy of the
transcript of the investigation has been made a part of the record. The rules
cited in the letter of charge were read into the investigation, and are also set
forth in the Carrier's submission. We see no
necessity for
repeating them here.
About 3:00 P.M., May
8, 1980,
the owner of an Exxon Service Station
called Carrier's Division Engineer's office in Tampa and reported that an
individual in a private vehicle had purchased gasoline with an SCI. credit card.
Investigation by Carrier officers developed that the gasoline had been purchased
by Claimant and was pumped into a truck bearing Alabama license PHJ 120 instead
of the
vehicle to
which the credit card was assigned and the vehicle for which
Claimant was responsible.
In the investigation substantial evidence was introduced that Claimant
did use the SCI. credit card to purchase gasoline for his private vehicle. Claimant
admitted as much. However, he contended that the Company vehicle assigned to him
was overheating and that he used his personal vehicle in attempting to have the
Company vehicle repaired, and that he did so on advice, or instructions, of his
Supervisor. There is conflict between the statement of the Claimant as to just
what was said in the telephone conversation with the Supervisor, the Supervisor
stating that he was not aware that Claimant was going to use his personal vehicle
for Company business, and that he did not authorize the use of same. The claimant
testified that he was
replenishing the
gasoline that he had used from his personal
vehicle on Company business.
It was also
developed in
the investigation, and Claimant so testified,
that the normal procedure for reimbursement for the use of personal automobiles
on Company business was to fill out an expense account and to turn in mileage.
The Carrier considered Claimant's action in using Company credit card
to purchase same
eighteen gallons
of gasoline far his personal vehicle, under the
circumstances involved, as an act of dishonesty. We, at the Board level, are not
in position to say that such a conclusion by the Carrier was not justified or
unwarranted. The Board has issued numerous awards upholding the dismissal of
employes far dishonesty or attempts to defraud. Dismissal, under the circumstances
here involved, was at the Carrier's discretion. The temptation to
reduce the
severe discipline is
strong. However, the only reason for reducing the penalty
would be on the basis of leniency, which addresses itself to the Carrier and not
to this Board. The claim will be
denied.
Award Number 24274 Page
3
Docket Number
PEW-24553
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 Employe 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: Acting Executive Secretary
National Railroad Adjustment Board
By
Rosemarie Brasch - Administrative Assistant
Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this
31st
day of March
1983.