Public Law Board No. 3794
PARTIES Brotherhood of Maintenance-of Way Employes
DISPUTE: and
CSX Transportation, Inc.
STATEMENT Case No. 38:
OF
CLAIM: Claimant J. S. Thompson shall be restored to ser
vice with all seniority and other rights unim
paired and compensation for all wage loss suffered.
Case No. 39:
Claimant D. M. Parkey shall be restored to service
with all seniority and other rights unimpaired
and compensation for all wage loss suffered.
FINDINGS: Claimants, trackmen on a Section gang, were dis
missed because of their actions on May 8, 1985
when Claimant Thompson was serving as foreman in
the regular foreman's stead.
There is substantial evidence in the record that
supports Carrier's findings that Thompson, after work, used a
Company truck to drive home, a 60-mile round trip, and before mak
ing the trip, obtained 22 gallons of gas at a service station, the
gas being obtained on Company credit. There is also substantial -
evidence that about 3 gallons of that amount were put into a five
gallon can and placed in Claimant Parkey's own car by Parkey.
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Thompson allowed Parkey to take the gas in response to the latter's
appeal that he was afraid of running out of gas on the way home.
Both men were dismissed for "dishonesty." Railroads suffer huge losses as a result of pilferage and it is not
unreasonable, as we have consistently held, for them to enforce
strict rules against appropriation of Company or customer property,
even when the amount taken is extremely small. It is not unrealistic to conclude that pilferage actually discovered is merely "the
tip of the iceberg."
It is quite evident that claimants used Company
credit for their own purposes and not on Company business. It is
true that Parkey did not actually use the gas he obtained to operate his car; he kept the can of gas in his car as a precaution and
subsequently returned it. That certainly is a factor for Carrier
to take into consideration. It is also worthy of note that Thompson -was serving as foreman for the day and might have believed that he
had more authority than he actually had. Carrier may wish to review the discipline in the light of those and other factors as
well as their knowledge of the men.
However, this Board cannot validly substitute its
judgment for that of Carrier in this matter and will deny the
claims,
although the
Chairman is somewhat troubled by the use of
the word "dishonesty," in a case of this type. In his view, the
word is frequently used too loosely and perhaps smugly in many
discipline cases. It would be preferable to state the charges
and findings i:i more precise factual terms rather than in general
characterizations.
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379qj~,
AWARD: Claims denied.
Adopted at Jacksonville, Florida, mARL't
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1987.
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Ha M. We n, Chairman
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Carrier Member Employee Member