PROCEEDINGS BEFORE PUBLIC LAW BOARD NO. 3781
AWARD NO. 5
Case No. 5
Referee Fred Blackwell
Carrier Member: R. O'Neill Labor Member: W. E. LaRue

PARTIES TO DISPUTE:







STATEMENT OF CLAIM:



(a) The Carrier violated the effective Agreement, particularly Rule 3, Section 3(c), and Rule 4, Section 3, on April 27, 1983, when junior employees E. Troy, P. R. Eik, and J. Mantano were recalled from furlough instead of the senior employee, claimant W. Rankin.


(b) The Claimant be compensated for all wage loss suffered, including any overtime, which was denied the Claimant by this improper recall.


FINDINGS:

Upon the whole record and all the evidence, after hearing, the Board finds that the parties herein are CarrieV and Employees within the meaning of the Railway Labor Act, as amended, and that this Board is duly constituted by agreement and has jurisdicticn of the parties and of the subject matter.



This case arises frcm the claim of Trackman W. Rankin who alleges that the Carrier recalled junior Employees Troy, Eik, and Mantanc from furlough ahead cf him and thereby violated his rights under t'.-a parties' Agreement. The requested remedy is for the 1



Carrier to compensate the claimant for the time worked by junior Employees prior to his recall.

The parties' submissions are in disagreement in respect to several of the pertinent facts of the case-. The Organization, asserts that all of the employees involved in this dispute, the three named junior Employees (Troy, Eik, and Mantano) and Claimant Rankin, were assigned to Work Zone 2 when they were placed on furlough; that the three junior Employees were recalled to Zone 3 on April 27, 1983; and that the Claimant was recalled to a position in Work Zone 3 on June 21, 1983.

The Carrier initially denied the claim in a July 11, 1983 letter which stated that the junior men had been "recalled for the camp cars". Later, in a March 5, 1984 letter, the Carrier said that two ef the Employees, Eik and Mantano, had been recalled to positions in crafts other than Trackman; and that Mr. Troy had been recalled to a Trackman position in Working Zone 1. The Carrier's submission states that Claimant Rankin and Trackman Troy were both assigned to Work Zone 2 when they were placed on furlough: and that Employee Troy was recalled from furlough on May l0, 1983 zo fill a Trackman position which was advertised in work Zone 1 at Pier 124, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and which became a no bid position.

Since the Board has no information of record by which to resolve all of these conflicting fact issues, the confronting dispute will be decided on the basis of the facts of record which are 2



not in conflict, namely, that both Claimant Rankin and Trackman

Troy were assigned to Work Zone 2 at the time of their furlough; that the Claimant is senior to Employee Troy; that Employee Troy was recalled on May 10, 1983 to a no bid position in a zone other than Zone 27 and that Claimant Rankin was recalled to a position in a zone other than Zone 2 on July 21, 1983.

The Organization submits that the claim is supported by Rule 3, Section 3(c) of the Agreement, as amended by Amendment 4, dated June 14, 1981. The Carrier submits that the claim should be denied on the basis of Rule 4 of the applicable Agreement, in that the Claimant had no greater rights than Employee Troy under that Rule to be recalled to the position in Work Zone 1.

After due study of the foregoing and of the whole record,
inclusive of the parties' arguments in support of their respective
positions in the case, the Board concludes that Claimant Rankin
and Employee Troy were both assigned to Work Zone 2 at the time of
their furlough: and that both were eligible bidders on the basis
of their district seniority on the subject Trackman position at
Pier 124 which was in a zone other than Work Zone 2. The Board
further observes that although the record does not indicate the
carrier's criterion for selecting Trackman Troy for the Trackman
position in Zone 1 at Pier 124, it seems clear from the record
that he was not selected for the position on the basis of the
automatic bidder provision in Rule 3, section 3(c) of the
Agreement. Thus, in the acts at hand, neither Trackman Troy nor
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P.L. Board No. 3781 - Award No. 5, Case No

Claimant Rankin were covered by the "automatic bidder provision" of Rule 3, Section 3, as amended on June 14, 1981. In these circumstances when the carrier decided to recall a Zone 2 Employee, the Carrier should have recalled Claimant Rankin to the position ahead of junior Employee Troy on the basis of the Rule 3,

Section 1, text which provides cient, seniority shall govern" positions under the Agreement. that a senior furloughed Zone 1

that: "qualification being suffiin the assignment of Employees to It is thus no defense to the claim Employee would have greater rights


to recall to the Zone 1 position at Pier 124 than either the

Claimant or Employee Troy. Rule 4, Section 3 as amended, cited by the Carrier, provides a right for the Carrier to demand (i.e., force) the return-to-work of a furloughed Employee to service in a vacant position in his working zone; the Rule does not apply to as Employee's opportunity for recall to a vacancy in a work zone other than his own work zone, respecting which, the Employee is free to decline, all of which is made clear by the provision in the Rule which provides for forfeiture of seniority of an Employee who does not return to service within the time period allowed by the Rule.

Accordingly, and in line with the foregoing, the claim will be sustained and the Carrier shall compensate the Claimant for time lost from the date on which Trackman Troy was returned to service on the Trackman's position in Work Zone 1 until the C1aiaant's return to work on June 21, 1983.




AWARD:
claim sustained as per the Opinion, with the Claimant to be compensated on the basis of the work days between the time of Trackman Troy's return to service on May 13, 1983 and the Claimant's return to service on June 21, 1983.
The Carrier shall comply with this Award within thirty (30) days from the date hereof.




r
W LL
R. O'Neill, Carrier Member W. E. LaRue, Labor Member

Executed on J,~`3 , 1986.

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