Hamilton’s seniority was terminated pursuant to Paragraph (49) of the DaimlerChrysler National Agreement after he was absent for five days without providing evidence to support the reason for his absence. The Company had given him until February 11, 2000, to file papers certifying his entitlement to leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act. Hamilton…

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The decision not to appeal the case to the Umpire was rational. It was unreasonable for Carroll to assume that a call to the guard shack would justify his absence until August 18 in the absence of any documents to support his request for medical leave, particularly in light of the Company’s warning that he…

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When Ford sent the Five-Day Quit Notice, Eckert no longer had the protection of FMLA leave, because he had already exceeded the 15 days allowed to an employee by the FMLA to provide medical certification to the employer. The National Agreement provides greater protection than the FMLA against a loss of seniority by an employee…

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There is no dispute that Clark did not report to work at Volvo during the period from April 19 until his seniority was broken on April 26, 2004. Although he called in his absence on April 19, he was not granted a leave of absence at that time. The fact that leave was granted to…

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The Company followed the contract and sent Toliver a five-day notice when he failed to return from medical leave. Toliver’s failure to claim his registered mail and respond to it gave the Company the right to terminate his seniority. There was no basis for pursuing an appeal of Toliver’s grievance to the Umpire.

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The Company agreed to reinstate Deliso during a meeting on January 18, 2005, but she did not report to work after being instructed to do so. Deliso’s claim that the former Chairperson informed her that he would keep her grievance open at the third step and have her returned to medical leave is highly improbable.…

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The Company’s Rules of Conduct state unequivocally that leaving the plant without permission and overstaying lunch period can lead to disciplinary action. Pappas does not deny that he left the plant without permission and overstayed his lunch period. He was working under the terms of a reinstatement waiver which precluded him from challenging the reasonableness…

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The rational basis standard requires a professional approach to making the decision whether to submit a grievance to the Umpire. Part of that approach is doing an adequate investigation of the particular circumstances of the grievance as well as researching prior Umpire decisions to determine the probability of success. The Umpire decisions submitted to us…

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Representative Booher had a rational basis for her conclusion that she could not obtain any relief for Grant by pursuing her grievance to arbitration. Booher met with Grant and the local union representatives on November 22, 2008, in order to determine if there was any argument that could be presented to compel the company to…

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This record demonstrates that Frigo’s local representatives took all of the appropriate steps to protect his seniority following his arrest on March 28, 2002. Frigo was discharged because his incarceration prevented him from reporting to work. The union’s decision to withdraw a grievance protesting the discharge was proper. Nothing in the National Agreement imposes a…

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