"Claim of the System Committee of the Brotherhood th

The Agreement was violated when the Carrier failed and refused to allow Mr. B. M. Battles, Sr. a flex day payment during each of the months of January and February 1994, as requested (Systems Files MRL-108 and MRL-110).

Carrier shall tie required to credit and pay the Claimant for the flex

days requested for the months of January and February 1')94 as

contemplated by Article S."

The facts of this case are not in dispute. Claimant was furloughed December 1, 1993. He had the requisite earnings in 1993 to qualify for a full allotment of flex time days for 1994. He filed otherwise proper requests for one flex time day for January and one for February 1994. Carrier denied the request. It appears that the motive behind Claimant's request was to qualify for Railroad Retirement Board service credit for January and February, even though he was on furlough status.

The Organization contends that the denial of Claimant's flex time day requests violates the plain meaning of Article Y of the Agreement. Carrier, however, contends that flex time days are intended to take the place of vacation, sick leave, holidays, supplemental sickness, and personal and bereavement leave. Therefore. in Carrier's view, they are only available to be used in place of days that an employee would otherwise be working. An employee on furlough, according to Carrier may not take flex time days.

Article V, "Flex Time System," provides:

".A. The terms of this article are intended to be in lieu of vacation, holiday, sick leave, supplemental sickness, personal and bereavement leave arrangements.

E. 1. Generally, requests for flexible time system withdrawals %611 be granted, contingent upon service requirements on a seniority basis.

2. Time system withdrawals for less than a single day will not be permitted. Requests for single-day withdrawals on any national holiday, the day after Thanksgiving, and Christmas Eve must be requested at least two (2) weeks in advance. The Company pledges to make special efforts to honor the maximum feasible number of requests for time off and for flexible time system payments on those dates.

3. Single-day requests, at other times, may be made upon m-ent_v-four (24) hour notice of an appropriate Company officer.

F. Employees will have an option to either:

1. Take all of the days in the flexible time system before November f of a given year. V

2. Receive pay for any untaken time at a pay period before

Christmas."

Article 1' set forth numerous requirements for qualifying for and using flex time. Nowhere does it expressly preclude employees from using flex time while on furlough. Moreover, as the Organization pointed out, Article V, paragraph 1:(5) indicates how to calculate the rate to be paid when an employee is not regularly assigned. This indicates that the parties contemplated that employees might use flex time while on furlough. Indeed, Carrier has not suggested any other rationale for the inclusion of such a provision in paragraph E(5).

We also note that in the original claim on the property. the Organization indicated that Claimant had been permitted to use flex time while on furlough in 1993. Although one prior year does not establish a long-standing consistent past practice, it does provide some further support for the Organization's position. C'laimant's motive for using his flex time benefits, i.e., the desire to qualify for Railroad Retirement credit. is irrelevant.

AWARD