Form 1 NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
THIRD DIVISION
Award No. 45248 Docket No. MW-47434
24-3-NRAB-00003-220595
The Third Division consisted of the regular members and in addition Referee George Edward Larney when award was rendered.
(Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division – (IBT Rail Conference
(Soo Line Railroad Company STATEMENT OF CLAIM:
“Claim of the System Committee of the Brotherhood that:
The Agreement was violated when the Carrier improperly withheld Mr. C. Larson from service without a substantive basis from October 9, 2020 through October 23, 2020, following his negative COVID-19 test result on October 9, 2020 (System File C-85-20-250- 01/2020-00018521 SOO)
As a consequence of the violation referred to in Part (1) above, Claimant Larson shall now receive . . . compensation at the Claimant’s applicable rate of pay for all straight-time and/or overtime, benefits, and work opportunities lost and to which he was entitled from October 9 through October 20, 2020 – compensation the Claimant was denied by the Carrier’s withholding him from service. ”
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.
Claimant C. Larson has established and maintains seniority in the Carrier’s Maintenance of Way and Structures Department.
The underlying facts of this claim are straight-forward and are not disputed by the Parties. On October 9, 2020, the Claimant was experiencing symptoms similar to that of a COVID-19 infection. the Claimant responded that same day by voluntarily submitting to being tested for the coronavirus. The Claimant was tested at the CHI St. Alexius Health, Carrington Medical Clinic and Urgent Care in Carrington, North Dakota. The Claimant tested negative for COVID-19 and immediately reported the test result to Carrier’s Medical Department that day. Pursuant to Carrier’s Engineering COVID-19 Guidelines, published March 14, 2020, the Medical Department instructed and required the Claimant to self-quarantine for the fourteen (14) day period beginning October 9, 2020 through October 23, 2023, an action supported by the then advice by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention posted on its website and other global medical experts. When the Claimant’s quarantine ended, he returned to work his first scheduled day, October 26, 2020.
The Organization filed the subject claim alleging that since the Claimant tested negative for COVID-19, Carrier violated a number of Agreement provisions by wrongfully withholding the Claimant out of service by requiring him to self-quarantine for the entire fourteen (14) day period, thus depriving him of his contractual guaranteed pay and other benefits.
Carrier notes that even though the Claimant tested negative for COVID-19, CDC Guidelines state that a negative test does not automatically clear an employee to return to work for various reasons such as, for example, the type of test taken and the timing of when the test was taken in relation to when the employee began experiencing symptoms. In this instant case, even though the Claimant tested negative, he still was experiencing Covid-19 like symptoms and therefore the negative test result was no assurance that it was accurate and correct.
The Board is persuaded by all of the circumstances surrounding the instant case, that Carrier acted in concert with what was known at the time about the pandemic and the widespread transmission of the COVID-19 virus by pursuing the cautious approach
of withholding the Claimant out of service as a means of preventing the spread of the coronavirus thereby protecting other of its employees in the workforce. The Board finds that by Carrier taking this action, it did not violate any of the provisions of the Agreement as alleged and cited by the Organization. As such, the Board rules to deny the claim in its entirety.
Claim denied.
This Board, after consideration of the dispute identified above, hereby orders that an Award favorable to the Claimant(s) not be made.
NATIONAL RAILROAD ADJUSTMENT BOARD
By Order of Third Division Dated at Chicago, Illinois, this 28th day of March 2024.