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Labor – RLA — minor disputes

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//March 12, 2014//

Labor – RLA — minor disputes

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//March 12, 2014//

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U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

Civil

Labor – RLA — minor disputes

A dispute over a railroad’s use of accident reconstruction reports in employee disciplinary investigations is a minor dispute under the Railway Labor Act, over which the district court lacked jurisdiction.

“Applying the Consolidated standard to the instant case, we agree with the district court’s ruling that this dispute is minor. The Discipline Rule requires Norfolk to provide the Brotherhood members with a fair and impartial investigation, but it does not provide extensive procedural requirements or evidentiary rules on how to meet that requirement. The only portion of the Discipline Rule which remotely discusses the presentation of evidence at investigations is paragraph (f), which states that ‘[p]ertinent witnesses called by the carrier [or employee] to testify in disciplinary investigations will be compensated.’ The Discipline Rule does not explicitly address pre-investigation disclosures, the admissibility of hearsay testimony, or the role of expert witnesses.”

Affirmed.

12-3415 Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees v. Norfolk Southern Railway Co.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Kendall, J., Bauer, J.

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