Issue No. 11 - Deadheading to Outlying Points

BLE and NCCC
1986 National Agreement
Informal Disputes Committee

ISSUE NO. 11

Is the Carrier allowed under Article VI to combine deadheading
 with an hourly component job such as yard service at an outlying point?

Pertinent Agreement Provision

ARTICLE VI - DEADHEADING

“Existing rules covering deadheading are revised as follows:

Section 3. - Payment When Deadheading and Service Are Combined

(a) Deadheading and service may be combined in any manner that traffic conditions require, and when so combined employees shall be paid actual miles or hours on a continuous time basis, with not less than a minimum day, for the combined service and deadheading. However, when deadhc3ading from the away—from—home terminal to the home terminal is combined with a service trip from such home terminal to such away—from—home terminal and the distance between the two terminals exceeds the applicable mileage for a basic day, the rate paid for the basic day mileage portions of the service trip and deadhead shall be at the full basic daily rate.”

Discussion

Article VI, Section 1 grants the Carriers the unilateral authority to combine service and deadheading whenever, “... traffic conditions require.. .“ The Carriers’ prerogative is conditioned only on proper notice. [See Issue No. 10.] The introductory clause to Article VI expressly announces that existing deadheading rules are revised and thus, Article VI supersedes inconsistent rules on the various railroads. The unequivocal language of Article VI shows that the parties did not exempt deadheading to outlying yard jobs merely because many yard assignments have fixed starting times within a guaranteed starting time bracket.

During its presentation of this case, the Organization alluded to a specific dispute which arose on the former Seaboard Coast Line Railroad. An engineer deadheaded 35 miles in each direction to perform a yard assignment at an outlying point. His total time on duty was ten hours, consisting of one hour deadheading to the assignment, eight hours on the yard job and one hour in return deadheading. The proper payment for this permissible combination of deadheading with service is eight hours plus two hours overtime.

The Answer to Issue No. 11: Yes.

DATED: May 16, 1988