BEFORE PUBLIC LAW BOARD NO.
7386
BROTHERHOOD OF MAINTENANCE OF WAY EMPLOYES
DIVISION - IBT RAIL CONFERENCE
and
SOUTH KANSAS & OKLAHOMA RAILROAD
Case No. 4
STATEMENT OF CLAIM: "Claim of the System Committee of the Brotherhood that:
1. The Carrier violated Article 4 - Seniority and Article 7 - Bulletin and Assignment
of Positions beginning on January 1, 2010 and continuing when it assigned the Job
Bulletin #1-37 position of track foreman at Winfield, Kansas to junior employee
K. Brown instead of Mr. N. Laney (System File SK-4007-1).
2. As a consequence of the violation referred to in Part 1 above, the Carrier shall
compensate Claimant N. Laney the difference in pay from the trackman rate of
pay to the foreman rate of pay beginning January 1, 2010 and continuing until he
is properly assigned to the position."
FINDINGS:
The Organization filed a claim on the Claimant's behalf, alleging that the Carrier
violated the parties' Agreement when it assigned a track foreman position to a junior
employee rather than to the Claimant. The Carrier denied the claim.
The Organization contends that the instant claim should be sustained in its entirety
because the Carrier directly violated the Agreement when it disregarded the Claimant's
established superior seniority in this matter, because there is no merit to the Carrier's
defenses, and because the Carrier's violation resulted in a loss of work opportunity and
income for the Claimant associated with the track foreman position at issue. The Carrier
contends that the instant claim should be denied in its entirety because the Claimant does
not hold a Class A Commercial Driver's License so he is not qualified to hold the track
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PLB NO. 7386
AWARD 4
foreman position under Article 27, because the Organization made no attempt to establish
that the Claimant was qualified for the position, and because the Organization failed to
meet its burden of proof.
parties being unable to resolve their dispute, this matter came before this
Board.
This Board has reviewed the record in this case, and we find that the Organization
has failed to meet its burden of proof that the Carrier violated the Agreement when it
selected a junior employee to the position of track foreman instead of the Claimant.
Therefore, the claim must be denied.
Although the Claimant in this matter had more seniority than the eventual selectee,
the record reveals that the Claimant was not qualified for the position because he failed to
have a commercial driver's license. A commercial driver's license is one of the
qualifications for the job.
Article 27 of the parties' Agreement, states the following:
The Carrier will establish general and specific qualifications
or certifications for each of the general classifications in
Article 3.
F. The Carrier's standards for qualifications and certification
will be determined at the sole discretion of the Carrier and
will be consistent with FRA requirements.
The Carrier has determined that a commercial driver's license is one of the
qualifications for the track foreman job at Winfield, Kansas. Since the Claimant did not
hold a commercial driver's license, the Carrier had the right to award the job to a more
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junior employee who did meet the Carrier's qualifications and requirements.
Since the Organization has not met its burden of proof in this matter, the
must be denied.
AWARD
:
The claim is denied.
PLC NO. 7386
AWARD 4
r(II-I
I
PETER ~AEYERS
a Member
O . xANIZATION
MEMBER
AV-
DATED:
- I -l
A y
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