M. H. Siegele
Asst. Vice President-Labor Relations
Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company
2600 Lou Menk Drive
P. O. Box 961030
Ft. Worth, TX 76161-0030

1997 ENGINEERS' TEMPORARY TRANSFER AGREEMENT
SIDE LETTER NO. 3

Gentlemen:

Effective with the implementation of the 1997 Engineers Transfer Agreement, Article XI of the July 26, 1978, National Agreement is amended by the following:

Bereavement leave, not in excess of three calendar days, following the date of death will be allowed in case of death of an engineer's brother, sister, parent, child, spouse or spouse's parent; death of a half-brother or half-sister; death of a stepbrother, step sister, stepparent or step child.

This letter is also applicable to a family relationship through the legal adoption process.

In such cases, three (3) basic days' pay at the rate of the last service rendered will be allowed anytime during the seven (7) days following the date of death provided the engineer is off on those days.An engineer need not have stood to work on one or more of the days in order to receive bereavement leave pay.

Bereavement pay will not be applicable during an engineer's vacation. Also, if an engineer qualifies for holiday pay on a holiday which occurs on a day the engineer also qualifies for bereavement leave pay, he will only be entitled to one basic day's pay for that day.

Engineers involved will make provision with their supervisors in the usual manner for taking bereavement leave.