PUBLIC LAW BOARD N0. 5850

Award No. -~q S

Case No. 295

(Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way E yes
PARTIES T ,DISPUTE :
(The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad (Former
(ATSF Railway Company)

ST [MUM ®F CLAIM:

1. The Carrier violated the Agreement on January 26, 2008 when Claimant, S. Castaneda, eras terminated for being absent without authority more than 5 days pursuant to Letter of Understanding dated July 13, 1876; and

2. As a consequence of the violation referred to In part 1 the Caller shall Invs>mdiately return the Claimant to service with seniority, vacation and all other rights unimpaired, remove any mention of this incident from Claimant's personal record, and make Clamant whole for ail tine lost commencing April 10, 2006.

Upon the whole record and ail the evidence, the Board finds that the parties herein are Carrier and Employee within the meaning of the Railway Labor Act, as amended. Further, the Board Is duly constituted by Agreement, has jurisdiction of the Pa and of the subject matter, and the Pa to this dispute were given due notice of the hearing thereon. ®n January 26, 2006, the Carrier wrote Claimant as follows:

"This is to advise you, effective this date your seniority and empioynwnt with the BNSF Railway Company is hereby terminated pursuant to the provisions of Letter of Understanding dated July 13, 1876, for being absent out proper authority for more than five (8j consecutive work days beginning January 16, 2 , and forward,

if you dispute the action taken hereinabove you may If you ire, request to be given an Investigation under the proviskrras of Rule 13 of the current agreement. Such request for Investigation must be made to this office at

PL-8 t3O, 585
Page 2 Award No. 2;~G S
Case No. zgs

the address noted below within twenty (20) calendar days from the date of

this notice."

Claimant timaty requested an Investigation but did not attend.

Since Claimant requested tire hearing, which was his opportunity t® to Carrier charges of being absent In excess of five consecutive working days but chose not to attend, Carrier's charges went unchallonged. Under these circumstances, tile dismissal by Carrier of Claimant was clearly in accordance with an existing Letter of Agreement IxtAaen the parties.

Claim denied.

ORDER

This Board, after consideration of the dispute identified above, hereby orders that an award favorable to the Claimant(:) not !e made.

_ Robert t» Wicks, Chairman & Neutral Member

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David D. Tanner, Labor Member Samantha Rogers, Carrier tier

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