(a) The Carrier violated the July 21, 1972, as revised, AmtrakCorporate Clerical Rules Agreement, pa Memorandum No. 2, Item 4 and other rules, as well as Article XIV of the September 6, 1991 Mediation Agreement, when it failed to call and work Claimant Paulsen for position of Ticket-Clerk, hours 9:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m., location at Albany/Rensselaer Station, Rensselaer, N.Y., on March 31, 1996 (vice J. Brown) and instead allowed and permitted clerical employee Steve Leonardo to cover same.

(b) Claimant Paulsen should now be allowed eight (8) hours overtime pay based on the pro-rata daily rate of $123.68 for March 31,1996, on account of this violation.

(c) Claimant is qualified, was available and should have been called and worked in accordance with the provisions of the Rules Agreement.

(d) This claim has been presented in accordance with Rule 25 and should be allowed."

The Third Division of the Adjustment Board, upon the whole record and all the evidence, finds that:

The carrier or carriers and the employee or employees involved in this dispute are respectively carrier and employee within the meaning of the Railway Labor Act, as approved June 21, 1934.

This Division of the Adjustment Board has jurisdiction over the dispute involved

Parties to said dispute were given due notice of hearing thereon.

On March 31, 1996, Employee J. Brown reported to work as a Ticket Clerk At the Albany/Rensselaer Station, Rensselaer, NY. His normal tour of duty was from 9:30 A.M. to 6:30 P.M. At 11:00 A.M. Mr. Brown became ill and went home sick. Carrier called Employee S. Leonardo (tour of duty from 2:00 P.M. to 10:00 P.M.) to come in two hours early (at noon) and paid him two hours' overtime pay.

The Organization maintains that the Carrier had advanced notice ofMr. Brown's illness, and should have called Claimant to complete the shift, rather than calling Mr. Brown to come in two hours early.

The Carrier asserts that its advanced notice was minimal, and that, since Mr. Leonardo was senior to Claimant, he was the proper person to call for the two hours' coverage needed. The Carrier insists that the applicable contract language in this case is Article XIV, (d), of the 1991 Mediation Agreement. That provision reads as follows:

"Under the Corporate Agreement, when a vacancy is caused by an unexpected failure to appear by an employee, an employee working at the location can have their tour of duty extended not more than two hours to cover the unexpected vacancy; such extension of the regular tour of duty will be assigned to employees working in the same category, if available. The employee whose tour of duty is extended will be paid the overtime rate for actual time worked in excess of their regular tour of duty. If the tour of duty is extended more than two hours existing rules will apply."

"If overtime is necessary before or after assigned hours, employees regularly assigned to the job category at the location shall be given preference in seniority order; the same principle shall apply to working extra time on holidays. Vacancies, including vacancies on rest day relief positions not filled by (e) above, shall be filled on a day-to-day basis in seniority order by employees regularly assigned to the job category at the location and who are available."