The Board, upon the whole record and on the evidence, finds that the parties herein are Carrier and Employees within the meaning of the Railway Labor Act, as amended; that this Board is duly constituted by agreement of the parties; that the Board has jurisdiction over the parties, claim and subject matter herein, and that the parties were given due notice of the hearing which was held on March 12, 2008 in San Antonio, Texas.
The record evidence reveals the following: Claimant entered Carrier's service on May 5, 2003. He maintains seniority within the various Groups of the Agreement between the parties. On April 21, 2006, Claimant, while working as a laborer, sustained an on-the-job injury on the Alhambra Subdivision at Milepost 485.80. Claimant's supervisor instructed Claimant to contact him before he sought medical attention. On April 22, 2006, Claimant absented himself from work without proper authority to seek
medical attention for his injury.' Carrier also charged Claimant with violating the 15 ft. work zone of SS 9613 by not communicating with the operator before entering his work zone. Carrier found that Claimant had violated Rules 1.13 and 1.15 and assessed Level 2 discipline.
Upon review of the evidence on the record, we note the Organization's objection to the conducting officer's refusal to make certain eyewitnesses available for no reason other than the Claimant should have first asked the witnesses to appear. We find the conducting officer's management of this issue to be inappropriate and deprived Claimant the opportunity for a fair and impartial hearing. We sustain this claim having not reached the merits. The Carrier is to remove the Level 2 discipline in this case and all references to this incident be removed from his personal record.
