Special Board of Adjustment No. 956
PARES Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees
DISPUTE: and
New Jersey Transit Rail Operations
STATEMENT The dismissal of John Aronil for alleged insubordina®
CLATM: tion was unjust and arbitrary and he was not afforded
a fair and impartial hearing. His record shall be
cleared of the charge brought against him on May 24,
1984 and he will be restored to service with senior
ity and other rights unimpaired and compensation
for all wagesl-oss suffered.
FINDINGS: . On the day in question, Bridge and Building Foreman
Flannery was having his men renew ties on a~remov
able span. They worked until about 5 p.m. and put
' in for two hours overtime after returning to head
quarters.
About an hour earlier, at 4 p.m., it had become ob-
vious that the track gang was not going to finish its part of the
work on time. Mr. Flannery began to help the men spike ties while
claimant passed out spikes to the men. Foreman Flannery then requested
claimant to begin to spike and when he replied that he was a mechanic .
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Award No. 4
and did not do track work, Mr. cFannery told him that it was an emergency situation and "we needed him" to assist the track gang. When
claimant persisted in his refusal to do the work, Mr. Flannery sent
him home. It is Mr. Flannery's testimony that:
"As far,as I was concerned, the incident was going to be over. It
wasn't brought to the light of Dick .
Hartnett or any of the other supervisors until Mr. Allen (the General
Chairman) called the office the next
day."
According to Foreman Flannery, Mr. Alien called the
office because claimant was very unhappy that he was not going to receive the same overtime pay the other men were receiving for staying
until 5:30 p.m. He went home at 4 p.m.
There is some dispute as to whether a true emergency
exi.sted. The record shows that the bridge was out between 8 a.m.
._ , and 4-p.m. and a line of boats aras.waiting to sail into the inlet et
Shark River Draw. The first boats began to go through at about 4:30
p.. m. However, there is testimony that not all of the trackmen were
actually working at the time claimant was asked to spike ties, 'but
that some were just watching and cheering the Foreman on as he was
spiking.
Insubordination is a serious offense, particularly
in the railroad industry where employees work away from headquarters
and time schedules must be met. While in the present case, claimant
refused to-comply with a direct order to spike ties, such extreme dis
cipline as dismissal is excessive, particularly when it is considered
that claimant is a mechanic and not a trackman, that the foreman's
order required him to work as a trackman, that other trackmen were
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PLB No. 956
Award No. 4
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available to perform the work and that Mr. Flannery did not consider
claimant°s refusal sufficiently serious to call for major discipline.
Mr. Flannery was not going to make anything of the incident until the
General Chairman called the office.
The discipline will be reduced to a suspension of
four months. Claimant will be reinstated immediately with seniority
rights unimpaired and with compensation for all wage loss suffered
subsequent to the aforementioned period of suspension. Had it not
been for his prior record, the discipline would have been teas sub
stantial.
AWARD: Claim sustained to the extent indicated in last
paragraph, supra, of Findings. To be effective
within 30 days
Adopted at Newark..N.J.,~January_~2g', 1985.
ar Aston, Chairman
carrier ember EmpToyee Member
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