Claim of Lake Division, Detroit District, Engineer S.L. Moss for. reinstatement to service and pay for all lost time after dismissal for conduct unbecoming an employee for transporting, displaying, and distributing a photograph with obscene, sexually explicit and demeaning remarks over the likeness of Detroit Terminal Superintendent Stigall and his wife, while working as engineer on Train 195L521 on January 24, 1997.
Upon the whole record and all evidence after the November 4, 1997 hearing in the Carrier's office, Norfolk, Virginia, and study of post-hearing submissions received on or before November 4, 1997, the Board finds that the parties herein are carrier and Employee within the meaning of the Railway Labor Act, as amended, and that this Board is duly constituted by agreement and has jurisdiction of the parties and the subject matter.
The Carrier has carried its required burden of proof in the instant claim. They have established by a preponderance of evidence that the Claimant is guilty of the Charges.
Eye witnesses testified that they saw the Claimant remove the photograph from the bulletin board in Toledo, Ohio, have copies of same reproduced and then take them to Detroit, Michigan where he displayed the same photographs in multiple locations in the Blue Room.
The Organization raised a number of procedural matters including timeliness of the filing of the Charges. The Board has reviewed each of these objections and finds them immaterial. They must be set aside.
In particular, the Organization claims disparate treatment from those other employees involved in the matter. No such claim can be made because the other employees disciplined admitted their guilt and accepted their penalties. The Claimant insisted that he was innocent in spite of all the conclusive evidence against him.