NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
THIRD DIVISION Docket Number MW-26463
Herbert L. Marx, Jr. Referee
(Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes
PARTIES TO DISPUTE:
(Consolidated Rail Corporation
STATEMENT OF CLAIM: "Claim of the System Committee of the Brotherhood that:
(1) The fifteen (15) days of suspension imposed upon Welder J. L.
Mitchell for alleged 'excessive absenteeism' was without just and sufficient
cause, on the basis of unproven charges and in violation of the Agreement
(System Docket CR-779-D).
(2) The claimant's record shall be cleared of the charges leveled
against him and he shall be compensated for all wage loss suffered."
OPINION OF BOARD: Claimant was subject to a investigative hearing on the
following charge:
"Failure to report for duty at Canton MW
Shop, Canton, Ohio on November 30, 1983, and
reporting for duty after starting time on
November 23, 1983 and November 28, 1983, which
in light of your previous attendance record
(absent August 15, 16, 17, 1983; November 16,
1983; late start August 1, 9, 1983; September 2,
28, 1983, October 17, 26, 1983, November 11,
1983; early quit July 22, 1983) constitutes
excessive absenteeism."
Claimant had previously received counseling and a disciplinary
suspension concerning his attendance.
There is no dispute as to the one absence of claimed illness and two
tardinesses which led to the investigative hearing. The Carrier included in
the charge, however, his record of unsatisfactory attendance in the previous
five months, with the allegation that the record as a whole constituted
"excessive absenteeism."
While individual absences or latenesses must be considered under the
particular applicable circumstances, the review of an employee's attendance
pattern in general is entirely proper. That such record may include some
failures to report as scheduled for legitimate reasons does not affect the
propriety of such review. In this instance, the Claimant received (as finally
adjusted) a 15-day disciplinary suspension, which was progressive discipline
following previous attempts to advise the Claimant of his unsatisfactory level
of attendance. The Board finds no basis to disturb the Carrier's determination that the three latest
were the culmination of a pattern of "excessive absenteeism."
Award Number 26449 Page 2
Docket Number MW-26463
The Organization's protest that the Claimant was not advised in
timely fashion concerning the results of the investigation was apparently made
on a misunderstanding. While the hearing was originally scheduled for January
13, 1984, the record indicates that it was postponed by mutual agreement to
January 19, 1984 -- so that the notice of discipline dated February 3 and
received February 7 was indeed timely and within the required 20 days.
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 J. r - Executive Secretary
Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this 24th day of August 1987.