PUBLIC LAW BOARD NO. 7357
Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division'- IBT Rail Conference
-and-
Delaware and Hudson Railroad Company d/b/a Canadian Pacific Railway
Award No. 53
No. 53
Carrier's File 8-01030 DHR
l. The discipHne (dismissal) assessed to Mr. M. Thompson by letter dated
November 14, 2014 in connection with allegations that he gave false and dishonest testimony during a hearing on October 13, 2014 was arbitrary, capricious andwithout justand sufficient cause and in violation of the Agreement
2. As a con;5equence of the violation 1·efei:red to in Part 1 above, we request that Claimant M. Thompson be returned to service immediately, that his record be cleared
this discipline and that he be compensated all losses suffered due to Carrier's improper discipline and afforded all other relief as contained in the Organization's letter of appeal dated January 7, 2015.
This Public Law Board 7357 finds that the parties are Carder and Employee, within the
meaning of the Railway Labor Act, as amended, and that this Board has jurisdiction.
By letter dated November 14, 2014, the Claimant, Mr. Michael Thompson was notified by the CatTier that he was assessed the discipline of Dismissed from service with the Canadian
Pacific Railway, asfollows:
Dear Sir:
As a result of the facts developed at the formal investigation hearing, held Monday, November 3"', 2014 you have been found failing to comply with General Code of Operating Rules Section 1.6, Conduct - being dishonest. This is a result of testimony
PLB No. 7357
Award No. 53
given by you during a hearing held on Monday, October 13111, 2014. Account your testimony being found inaccurate false, and dishonest.
You are hereby Dismissed from service with Canadian Pacific Railway, effective immediately.
s/Tim Yamashita-Regional Chief Engineer
The Organization appealed the discipline, and the matter has been progressed to this Board for adjudication.
No basis exist in the record before this Board to set aside the discipline on procedural grounds.
The Carrier convened a formal investigation on November 3, 2014 alleging that the Claimant gave false and dishonest testimony during a formal investigation held on October 13, 2014.
At the formal investigation held on October 13, 2014 conceming a late Digital Track Notebook (DTN) report and failing to make record of a track inspection on the date of the inspection, Friday, October 3, 2014, the Claimant testified that he had accessed DTN from the laptop at Kenwood Yard on Friday, October 3, 2014. *
At the November 3, 2014 investigation Division Engineer Todd Dragland testified that he has responsibility for all late inspections recorded on DTN, and that the only failure he was aware of where a deficiency in the Canier's System was raised as the problem was that raised by
*Division Engineer Dragland testified:
"I believe, when I reviewed the transcript I found there was a document. Yes, an email from Mr. Thompson dated October 7th. Mr. Thompson stated, I logged onto DTN, hit save and sign. The program processed my entry for about three minutes and it went into the next screen as it always does like the inspection was complete. The program didn't accept my signature and didn't process that I had inspected the track. I completed the inspection at around 7:55 a.m., on October 3, 2014. The time I tried to enter the inspection was around 14:30 on October 3, 2014. (Tr-16)"
the story of Mr. Thompson. Mr. Dragland testified in part that "I can't afford to have our systems fail and not take action on that. It's a federal document that the Carrier can face a fine for not completing inspections". He thus arranged to have Internet Technology Systems at CP investigate the cause of the internet system error raised by Mr. Thompson.
Substantial evidence.or record including the testimony of Senior Security Speciali:'lt Mr; Darcy McCully proves Mr. Thompson woufd not have logged into the DTN application, as Mr. Thompson had contended, for if he had there would have been a record of his user ID accessing the DTN cloud based application from the Carrier's gateway network and onto the inter11et.
Company Exhibit 4,.logged all oflhe inlernet activity on October 3, 2014 from 5:42 to 17:025 and shows that Mr. Thompson's user ID had not logged out of the company's network firewall and onto the internet, where the DTN online web application resides,
The Evidence of record is compelling that Mt'. Thompson was in violation of GCOR, Section 1.6 Conduct, 11Employees must not be ... 4. Dishonest". The Carrier must rely on its employees to perform and document the mandated safety inspection of tracks to provide a safe environment for employees and the public. Dismissal from service was neither arbitrary. capricious nor excessive considering the Claimant's prior disciplinary record, We must deny this claim.
Award Claim denied.
...
Carrier Member
Dated:
