PARTIES TO DISPUTE:


STATEMENT OF CLAIM: Claim of the System Committee of the Brotherhood that:
(1) The Carrier violated the Agreement when it improperly closed the service record bf Trackman T. J. Schuster (System File C-M-1274/MG-3348).
(2) The Carrier further violated the Agreement when it improperly withheld Trackman T. J. Schuster from service beginning December 10, 1981.
(3) Because of the aforesaid violations, the claimant shall be returned to service with seniority and all other rights unimpaired and he shall be compensated for all wage loss suffered beginning December 10, 1981.
OPINION OF BOARD: This dispute came about after the Carrier received a letter
 from the Claimant, dated December 10, 1981, in which he
 stated that he had been released for duty by his doctor and desired to return
 to service as soon as possible. Carrier points out that the Claimant had returned
 to duty on May 7, 1979, after being reinstated on a leniency basis. It maintains
 that, after working one hour and thirty minutes on May 7, Claimant declared to
 a Carrier official that he was resigning his position and left the property.
 Subsequently, the Claimant's name was removed from the appropriate Seniority
 Roster by the Carrier.
Following a series of exchange of correspondence and a conference between the parties, the Carrier rejected the appeal to place the Claimant in a duty status on the basic contention that he had voluntarily resigned from the service and, therefore, was no longer an employe.
The Board has thoroughly reviewed the record before it and finds no basis to sustain the claim. While we recognize the many contentions advanced by the Claimant and the Organization, with particular respect to his claim of personal injury, the fact remains that he left his assignment on May 7, 1979 and no substantive evidence has been presented to counter the Carrier's contention that it was a voluntary act on his part. It is this threshold issue that is controlling in the matter before us. Moreover, the Claimant's and Carrier's actions, during the two years and seven months following the May 7, 1979 incident, lends reasonable substance to the Carrier's contentions, for in that lengthy period, the parties had no substantive contact between them, clearly and credibly showing that, in fact, the employment relationship no longer existed. Accordingly, given all the facts and circumstances of the record, we must deny the claim.
                    Docket Number MW-25097


        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 not violated.


                          A W A R D


        Claim denied.


                          NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD

                          By Order of Third Division


Attest:
      5 Z' -"O~

        Nancy J r - Executive Secretary


Dated at Chicago, Illinois this 26th day of September 1984.