Award No. 11
Case No. 11 

PARTIES          Union Pacific Railroad Company
TO
DISPUTE:                     and

                 United Transportation Union (C&T)

Claim of Conductor, R. D. Nuss and Brakeman, D. P. Beckmann and C. C. Abegglen for 40 minutes additional held time on September 19, 1986 called to deadhead and service combined.

Upon the whole record, after hearing, the Board finds that the parties herein are Carrier and Employees within the meaning of the Railway Labor Act, as amended, and that this Board is duly constituted under Public Law 89-456 and has jurisdiction of the parties and the subject matter.

On September 19, 1986, Claimants were assigned to and working in interdivisional pool freight service between North Platte, Nebraska and Council Bluffs, Iowa. On the date in question, after having been off duty 17 hours and 50 minutes, they were called for a combination of deadhead and service at 7:00 P.M. at Council Bluffs. They were instructed to deadhead to Freemont, Nebraska and then subsequent service to North Platte, Nebraska. Claimants departed Council Bluffs, on a deadhead basis, at 7:40 P.M. On the claim date, the Claimants asked an additional 40 minutes, held away from home-terminal time from 7:00 o'clock, which was their on-duty time at Council Bluffs, until 7:40 P.M., their departure time from that City. They had been compensated 1 hour and 50 minutes, held away time, for the period in question with the explanation by the timekeeper subsequently that held away time ceased when they reported for duty on a working trip.

Rule 74 of the Agreement, effective May 1, 1983, provides in pertinent part:

Should a conductor or brakeman be called for service or ordered to deadhead after pay begins, held away from home terminal time, shall cease at the time pay begins for such service or, when deadheading, at the time the train leaves the terminal, except that in no event shall there be duplication of payment for deadhead time and held-away-from-home terminal time.

The Organization maintains that there has been an understanding with Carrier that when a crew deadheads, held away time continues and is compensated until the employees depart the terminal. The Organization believes that Rule 74 is unambiguous, and furthermore the Memorandum of Understanding, by the General Manager, agreed to pay away-from-home terminal time until the crew departs at terminal when deadheading. Furthermore, the Organization insists that Carrier has paid claims on a similar basis, by agreement, for over 40 years.

Carrier insists that the claim herein is without rule support. Specifically, the rule relied upon by the Organization is clear and unambiguous in that it indicates that there is to be no duplicate payment for deadheading and held-away-from-home terminal time. In this instance, when the Claimants went under pay, when they went on duty, held-away-from-home terminal pay stopped appropriately. Thus, Carrier was correct in what it did. Carrier has relied on a series of awards, all of which refused claims, which involve a duplication of payment for deadhead time and held-away-from-home terminal time. Carrier believes that its payment, to Claimants of five miles, representing the time from Council Bluffs to the Summit departure point was sufficient in lieu of held-away-from-home time. Thus, Carrier believes that if the forty minutes held-away time were allowed, until Claimants departed, plus the five miles from Council Bluffs to the Summit, this would be a duplication of deadhead pay and held-away-time.

From the Board's point of view, while the record is not totally clear, it is apparent under the rule which controls this particular issue, Claimants are entitled to held-away-time until such time as they came under pay in their deadhead and service activity. It appears that they were not accorded this pay, and therefore are entitled to the forty minutes claimed. For the reasons indicated, it is apparent that Carrier erred in holding back the forty minutes pay, which should have been accrued because the other pay did not start immediately upon the employees being called at 7:00 P.M.

AWARD
Claims sustained.

ORDER
Carrier will comply with the Award herein within 30 days from the, date hereof.

I. M. Lieberman, Neutral-Chairman

G. A. Eickmann, Employee Member

Scott Hinckley, Carrier Member

Omaha, Nebraska December 30, 1991