NATIONAL
RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
THIRD DIVISION Docket Number CL-25287
Edward L. Suntrup, Referee
(Brotherhood of Railway, Airline and Steamship Clerks
( Freight Handlers, Express and Station Employes
PARTIES TO DISPUTE:
(The Denver 6 Rio Grande Western
( Railroad Company
STATEMENT
OF CLAIM: Claim of the System Committee of the Brotherhood
(GL-9820) that:
-1. The Carrier violated Rules 10, 12-P, 26-E, 28A4, 33-Cl, and 33-C2
and other related Rules, when on April 20, 1982, the Carrier forced Mr. R.
Mitchell to work operator's Position 11 pm to 7 am North yard, at eight (8)
hours pro-rata pay. Mr. Mitchell was assigned Top End Clerks position 11 pm to
7 am on April 20, 1982.
2. The Carrier will now be required to pay Mr. R. Mitchell four (4)
hours pro-rata in addition to eight (8) hours pro-rata.'
OPINION OF BOARD: The instant Claim was filed on April 27, 1982, by the Local
Protective Committee of the Brotherhood on behalf of the
Claimant, R. Mitchell. The Claim alleges that the Claimant was forced to work
an Operator's Position, 11 PM to 7 AM on April 20, 1982, when he was in fact
assigned, at that time, to the position of Top End Clerk, same hours. The Claim
is for four (4) hours pro rata because "(t)his type of move has been payed at
time and one half (1 1/2) every time in the past". The Claim alleges that the
Rules at bar are 10, 12(p), 26(e), 28(a) (4), 33(c) (1) and 33(c) (2) and other
related Rules although the original letter of Claim only cites Rule 12(p).
This Rule states the following:
"Regularly assigned employes occupying Clerical positions will not
be required to suspend work on their own position to fill short
vacancies
on
a telegrapher's position.'
In denying the Claim on property the Carrier asserts that no compensation
was due because the Claimant was "duly compensated at the higher rate of pay
for working (the) Operator position
on
April 20, 1982,· and that the applicable
Agreement provision is not Rule 12(p) nor any of the others cited by the Claimant
but rather Rule 43(g). This Rule reads:
'It will be optional with the Carrier to fill or not fill the
position of an employee who is absent account personal illness.
The Carrier will have the right to distribute work on a position
vacated by illness among other employees on duty at that location.'
Award Number 25302 Page 2
Locket Number CL-25287
The other Rules cited by the organization in its original Claim read
as follows:
"Rule 10: Positions or vacancies including leaves of absence of ten
working days or less duration shall be considered short vacancies
and may be filled without bulletining.
Rule 26(e): Regular Relief Assignments. All possible regular relief
assignments with five days of work and two consecutive rest days
will be established to do the cork necessary on rest- days of assignments
in six or seven-day service or combinations thereof, or to perform
relief work on certain days and such types of other work on other
days as may be assigned under individual Agreements.
Where no guarantee rule now exists such relief assignments will
not be required to have five days of work per week.
Assignments for regular positions may on different days include
different starting time, duties and work locations for employees
of the same class of the same seniority district, provided they
take the starting time, duties and work locations of the employee
or employees whom they are relieving.
Rule 28(A) (4) No such contract provision exists in the current
Clerical Agreement.11
Rule 33(c) (1) and (2): Short vacancies as defined in Rule 10
will be filled in the following order:
(1) By an available extra or unassigned employee with sufficient
fitness and ability not having forty straight-time hours in. his
work week.
(2) If an employee is not available under Item first above, when
vacancy occurs on a regular position and it is the regularly assigned
employee's rest day, he will be used."
An analysis of the record on property fails to show that any of the
Agreement provisions cited above which deal with leaves of absence, relief
assignments, or short vacancies are applicable to the instant case. Further,
as moving party, the Organization shoulders the burden of proof with respect to
the past practice of paying time and one half for the ·type of move" at bar, on
assumption that Rule 12(p) of the current Agreement is controlling (Second
Division Awards 5526, 6054, PLB 3529, Award 1). Nowhere in the record can such
proof be found, however, beyond mere assertion that such had been the case.
The Carrier states in its letter to the Organization dated January
10, 1983, the following which is not disputed by the Organization on property:"
(i)n conference of December 31, 1982, this Claim was discussed... (and) ...Carrier~s
payroll records reflect that the regular occupant of the 11:00 PM - 7:00 AM
(position), Operator G. J. Bradbury, was paid sick leave on April 20, 1982...".
Only in the Organization's Submission to the Board is the Board
apprised, for the first time, that this cite really references a different
Agreement. As noted at the end of this Award, such information is inadmissable.
Award Number 25302 Page 3
Locket Number CL-25287
By requesting the Claimant to fill the operator's position the
carrier reasonably applied, in view of the record on property, the correct
Agreement provision by resorting to the directives found in Rule 43(g). On
merits, the Claim cannot be sustained.
Reference to issues which go beyond those cited above which are
presented to the Board in the Organization's Submission are inadmissable as
they were not submitted during the handling of the case on the property (Fourth
Division Awards 4132, 4136, 4137). These issues deal with an Agreement which
is a different one than the current Clerical Agreement and with the distribution
of work to a craft or class which is different from that in which a vacancy
Occurs. While it is up to the parties to consider whether these issues may
be in search of solution, such cannot be considered within the context of the
instant case because of the manner in which facts relevant to it have been
framed in its handling on property.
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; and
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:
Nancy J er - Executive Secretary
Dated at Chicago, Illinois this 28th day of February 1985.