NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
THIRD DIVISION Locket Number MW-26122
John W. Gaines, Referee
(Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes
PARTIES TO DISPUTE:
(National Railroad Passenger Corporation
STATEMENT OF CLAIM: Claim of the System Committee of the Brotherhood that:
°(1) The dismissal of Truck Driver T. L. Clark for alleged violation
of Rule 'I' was excessive and unwarranted (System File NEC-BMWE-SD-631D).
(2) The Claimant shall be reinstated with seniority and all
other rights unimpaired and he shall be compensated for all wage loss
suffered."
OPINION OF BOARD: Claimant entered Carrier's service on may 19, 1976,
and was working as Truck Driver at the time of dismissal
from service. His dismissal was in accordance with Carrier's letter dated
June 3, 1983, based on a hearing held May 19, 1983, on the charge against
him specified as:
° . . fraudulent credit purchases at the T. G. Ma11ot AMOCO
Station, 731 Philadelphia Road, Aberdeen, Maryland, utilizing
an AMTRAK issued AMOCO credit card. One such incident occurred
on April 3, 1983, at 3:15 PM, in which you pumped $25.20 worth
of fuel into a 1977 red Pontiac automobile with Maryland license
ETD 788, which is registered to you, and put a false name and
license number on the credit card charge slip which was imprinted
by AMOCO card 4801-0015. Another incident occurred on April
14, 1983, at 7:00 PM, in which you put 11 gallons of gas valued
at $15.76 into the same vehicle and completed the charge slip
with a false name and license number that was imprinted with
AMOCO credit card 4801-0011."
Claimant's guilt was well supported and admitted by him. The
placing of Carrier's truck and the credit card at his disposal amounted to
no less than an act of trust, which in this case Claimant deliberately
breached. The dishonesty it involves is serious in character and warrants
discipline.
Claimant alleges to have accumulated a long standing and good
record in the industry in his employment before and also after entering
Carrier's service. The nature of this offense is such, however, that his
record of previous service is entitled to bear but little on the outcome
here.
Rather, it lies within the sound discretion of Carrier to go to
the gravity of the offense itself in assessing the penalty being imposed
for the present serious violation. In its judgment, the proper discipline
is dismissal.
Award Number 25845
Locket Number MW-26122
Page 2
We refrain from setting aside or modifying Carrier's judgment, in
which we find no excessive application of discipline or abuse of discretion.
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:
jii i
Nancy J r - Executive Secretary
Dated at Chicago, Illinois this 13th day of January 1986.
