NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
THIRD DIVISION Docket Number MS-26363
(Donald A. Albert
PARTIES TO DISPUTE:
(Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Company
STATEMENT OF CLAIM: "Claim of Donald A. Albert
A.T.S.F. Claim No. 31-2000-100-10
1. Carrier wrongfully terminated employe, Donald A. Albert for
failure to file address correction in the month of December 1983.
2. Carrier should reinstate employe Donald A. Albert to his
seniority rights, backpay and attorney fees."
OPINION OF BOARD: The main issue as to the basic validity of the present
Claim turns on the question of whether Claimant properly
filed notice of his current address with Carrier to protect against forfeiture
of his seniority rights. His employment and seniority rights were terminated
effective January 1, 1984.
At outset we take note, in passing, that several procedural flaws
developed in the course of things, one being that Claimant through his
Attorney failed to take any steps for the handling of the matter on the
property following disallowance of his grievance. Carrier's letter of
disallowance was dated November 30, 1984, but Claimant thereafter did not
properly progress the dispute in that he never discussed it or asked for the
required discussion of it in conference on the property. The conference is a
necessity as set out in Section 3, First (i) of the Railway Labor Act.
In addressing the main issue, we find no evidence of probative value
to support Claimant's compliance with Notification Rule 17 as it applies to
his status in being off-work due to reduction in force.
Section 17-B of the Rule provides in pertinent part:
. . . Employes off-in-force-reduction, who do not
perform service under this Agreement during a
calendar year, must file their current address with
their employing officer during the month of
December of such calendar year and failure to file
in December shall result in forfeiture of all
seniority rights."
Carrier, in the noted November 30, 1984, letter as signed by
Claimant's Employing Officer Martin, advises Claimant there is no record of
receiving his current address from him during the month in question, December,
1983. So, the letter further advises, Claimant's status of having forfeited
seniority rights has not changed.
Award Number 26013 Page 2
Docket Number MS-26363
Claimant alleges he furnished, as of December 4, 1983, a change of
address notice that he mailed on that date, not to his Employing Officer but
to Carrier's Topeka, Kansas, offices. He offers as evidence a copy of the
purported notice.
Mailing the notice other than to Claimant's Employing Officer is
defective, failing to comply with the mandatory requirement explicit in
Section 17-B. The record shows that, in an earlier connection, Claimant was
aware of proper mailing procedure. By his letter of January 17, 1983, with
copy to his Employing Officers at Fresno, California, Claimant in accordance
with Transfer Rule 13, notified them of a transfer request for his seniority.
Rule 13 provides for essentially the same mailing requirement by the language
"with copy to employing officer" as does Rule 17.
Rule 17 must be complied with or forfeiture becomes automatic in
this situation. The Board holds that the present Claim is therefore denied.
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:
Nancy ver'- Executive Secretary
Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this 28th day of May 1986.
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