ARTICLE 26

LAYING OFF/REPORTING
  1. When Leave (Annual or LWOP) for personal purposes is requested with at least twenty four (24) hours advance notice, it will be granted on a first-come first-serve basis, subject to the operational needs of the ARRC. Exceptional cases may be granted by the Superintendent of Transportation.
  2. Regularly assigned employees laying off due to sickness must notify the appropriate official in sufficient time to call a replacement. Employees who desire to lay off for personal reasons may do so only when such absence is authorized in advance by the proper officer of the ARRC.
  3. Regularly assigned employees who have laid off will mark up for their regular assignment not less than two (2) hours in advance of their reporting time.
  4. An employee assigned to the extra board must give notice of laying off prior to being called for an assignment.
  1. Normally an employee will be called one and one-half (1-1/2) hours before time required to report for duty.
  2. Job assignments with a standard call time will not be called by the Crew Dispatcher, except to fill vacancies on the assignment.
  3. Employees called to respond to emergencies or to fill vacancies created by sickness, injury, or unknown circumstances will be required encouraged to report for duty promptly to minimize delay.
  4. Employees subject to call will be responsible for obtaining means of communication to receive calls, (i.e., telephone, cellular telephone, pager, etc.), and will keep the appropriate official advised as to their current telephone number or means of communication.
  5. Employees who are on an assignment that requires a call to duty who fail to respond to that call to duty have missed call.
  6. It is not considered a missed call when the employee accepting the call, relinquishes the assignment voluntarily to an employee who would otherwise be charged a miss call.
    7.
  7. Employees utilizing pagers or electronic message receivers will be afforded fifteen (15) minutes from time of call to respond before being considered as missing call, and the next employee in rotation will be called to fill the vacancy.
  8. The following policy will govern "Missed Call":

First offense Notation of Oral Warning

Second offense Letter of Reprimand

Third offense Three (3) Days Suspension

Fourth offense Five (5) Days Suspension

Fifth offense Fifteen (15) Days Suspension

Sixth offense Thirty (30) Days Suspension

Seventh offense Dismissal from Service

For every four (4) months an employee does not miss call, the employee's record, at that time, will be adjusted back one (1) progressive step.

Telephone, cellular phone and pager equipment failures shall not constitute a missed call if documentation of failure is provided.

Employees assigned to an Engineer's or Conductor's extra board who are not available when called for a Fireman's or Brakeman's vacancy, respectively, will not be shown as missing call unless the Fireman's or Brakeman's extra board is non-existent or exhausted.

Employees will not be credited with more than one (1) missed call in any twenty four (24) hour period.

Nothing in this agreement shall limit or restrict the UTU's right to appeal up to and including Binding Arbitration, any discipline assessed an employee.