NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
THIRD DIVISION Locket Number MW-24683
William S. Coleman, Referee
(Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes
PARTIES TO DISPUTE:
(Consolidated Rail Corporation
( (former Penn Central Transportation Company)
STATEMENT OF CLAIM: "Claim of the System Committee of the Brotherhood that:
(I) The two (2) days of suspension. imposed upon Mr. D. P. Campbell
for alleged 'Violation of Safety Rule 3110 in connection with personal injury
sustained at Conway, Pa. 10:00 AM, September 17, 1979' was without just and
sufficient cause and on the basis of unproven charges (System Locket No. 594).
(2) The claimant's record be cleared of the charges leveled against
him and he shall be compensated for all wage loss suffered. °
OPINION OF BOARD: The record discloses that the Claimant was employed as
an Engineer-Work Equipment was disciplined for five (5)
days suspension by the Carrier for violation of Safety Rule 3110. Carrier
alleged that the Claimant sustained a personal injury to his foot while picking
ballast. Upon appeal, Carrier subsequently reduced the five (5) day suspension
to two (2) days suspension.
The Organization contends that the Carrier has not maintained its
burden of proof in asserting that the Claimant acted in an unsafe manner,
further, that the fact of an injury is not adequate to show a violation of a
safety rule. The Organization points out that the Claimant had a positive
record as a safe and diligent worker.
Nothing irr this record suggests that the Claimant has a history of
unsafe or careless work habits. The Board is persuaded by the Organization's
argument that the record does not justify the discipline assessed against the
Claimant nor supports the charges placed against him. There is no evidence in
this record to support the Carrier's allegations of unsafe and careless
behavior by the Claimant. Not every accident is a violation of a safety rule;
and the Carrier has not met the burden of proof.
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 Agreement was violated.
Award Number 24560 Page 2
Locket Number MW-24683
A W A R D
Claim sustained.
NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
By Order of Third Division
(4
ATTEST: '
Nancy Ji'.~&ver - Executive Secretary
Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this 17th day of November, 1983.
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