Form 1 NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
THIRD DIVISION
Award No. 36878
Docket No. CL-36888
04-3-01-3-424
The Third Division consisted of the regular members and in addition Referee
Edwin H. Benn when award was rendered.
(Transportation Communications International Union
PARTIES TO DISPUTE:
('CSX Intermodal Terminals, Inc. (former CSX/Sea-Land
Terminals, Inc. - Fruit Growers Express Company)
STATEMENT OF CLAIM:
"Claim of the System Committee of the Organization (GL-12754) that:
(a) The Carrier acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner when it
unjustly assessed discipline of 30 days suspension on Ms.
Antoinette Pannell on July 18, 2000.
(b) Claimant's record be cleared of the charges brought against her
on June 13, 2000.
(c) Claimant be compensated for wage loss sustained in accordance
with the provisions of Rule 43(f)."
FINDINGS:
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
herein.
Parties to said dispute were given due notice of hearing thereon.
Form 1 Award No. 36878
Page 2 Docket No. CL-36888
04-3-01-3-424
As a result of charges dated June 13, a Hearing was held on July 6 and by letter
dated July 18, 2000, the Claimant, a Clerk at East St. Louis, was assessed a 30-day
suspension for sleeping on duty, being on duty in a position conducive to sleeping and
dereliction of duty.
We cannot address the merits of this dispute. In the brief 28 page transcript of
the Hearing the Board counted 48 instances where the transcription of testimony states
"unable to understand" - much of which came during the Claimant's testimony. Under
the circumstances, we find that the Carrier did not give the Claimant a fair Hearing
and the Board has an inadequate record to review. See Public Law Board No. 5761,
Award 16:
".
. . A fair hearing also requires the production of a transcript that
completely represents what was said at the hearing. We say this
because the transcript not only serves as the basis for a determination
as to whether the facts of record support the assessment of discipline in
the first instance, but the transcript is also the principal document for
prosecuting an appeal of discipline and the document that a reviewing
authority must look to in determining whether in fact the hearing was
fair and impartial ...."
Given the state of the transcript and the lack of a fair Hearing, the suspension
shall be rescinded and the Claimant made whole.
AWARD
Claim sustained.
ORDER
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.
NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
By Order of Third Division
Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this 25th day of February 2004.