The Claimant, a Signal Maintainer, in service with the Carrier since August 18, 1986, was charged with insubordination and given 20 demerits after an Investigation held on February 14, 1995. The Claimant allegedly failed to comply with an instruction issued by the Signal Supervisor on December 30, 1994 to report to the Andersonville Forley Road crossing to assist two fellow Signal Maintainers in the removal of a tree in the pole line.
The other two Signal Maintainers went directly from the office to the job site, arriving there at about 8:30 A.M. They received permission to get on the rails from the Dispatcher at about 9:00 A.M. The Claimant, however, was assigned to first complete some office work for the Signal Engineer, who was to drop Claimant off at a clinic for a lab test After that test, Claimant was instructed to report to the Andersonville Forley Road crossing to assist the two other Signal Maintainers.
The Signal Engineer testified that Claimant was released from the clinic at 9:30 A.M. Claimant arrived at the Andersonville Forley Road crossing sometime between 10:00 and 10:15 A.M. By that time the other two Signal Maintainers had finished removing the downed tree and had the line back in operation. The Signal Supervisor determined that the clinic was only about 20 minutes away from the location of the downed tree, and the fact that Claimant took more than 20 minutes to report to the job site constituted insubordination.
The evidence shows that Claimant received and understood the instruction to report to the job site after being released from the clinic. The core questions are whether his reporting was timely and, if not, did untimely reporting constitute insubordination. The time Claimant reported to the job site is not clearly established, however, he was anywhere from ten to 15 minutes late. Under the circumstances that tardiness does not constitute insubordination. This job site was not part of Claimant's territory, and he contended he got lost trying to find the job site. This Board finds that contention plausible. Claimant has no prior history of discipline.
This Board, after consideration of the dispute identified above, hereby orders that an award favorable to the Claimant(s) be made. The Carrier is ordered to make the Award effective on or before 30 days following the postmark date the Award is transmitted to the parties.