Claims and Grievance Handling: Time Claims and Suspensions/Dismissals

PLEASE SEND YOUR CLAIMS TO US AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

TIME CLAIMS: Information Required

  1. COPY OF THE DECLINATION: The declination will be the DETAIL OF EARNINGS STATEMENT received by each employee. It has a PAY DATE in the upper right hand corner. All claims declined on this statement MUST BE APPEALED TO THE DIVISION SUPERINTENDENT WITHIN 60 DAYS FROM THAT PAY DATE. Enclosed is a copy of the Detailed Earnings Statement for the benefit of the new NS Local Chairmen.

  2. LOCAL CHAIRMAN’S APPEAL: The appeal is sent to the Division Superintendent and he is required to respond within 60 days from the date on your appeal. The Superintendent’s Office will either send you a letter or place a stamp on your appeal, paying or rejecting the claim, then return it to you. Always keep two copies of the declination, your appeal, and the Superintendent’s reply; one copy to send to this office and one for your records.

  3. SUPERINTENDENT’S REPLY: How ever the Superintendent replies, there will be a number and a date. The number usually begins with "X", followed by the first letter of the craft in which the employee is working, i.e., "C" for Conductors, "E" for Engineers, etc. This will be followed by letters identifying your district, next is the year, and the number of claims that has been filed for that craft for that year on your district. Example: XC-KNOX-99-10. This is the tenth claim filed for Conductors in 1999 on the Knoxville district. This number will be used to identify this claim until it is settled. ALL CLAIMS SENT TO OUR OFFICE MUST HAVE THIS NUMBER IN ORDER TO BE APPEALED TO LABOR RELATIONS. Once this number is assigned to a claim, the Superintendent’s office will send all the information concerning this claim to Labor Relations. If the number is missing, there will be no record in Labor Relations, and they will decline our appeal based on time limits. The date on the letter or stamp begins the 60-day period in which I must have the claim appealed to NS Labor Relations.

  4. FACTS ABOUT THE CLAIM: We need notes from the claimant, copy of comments, contractual basis, local agreement basis, draw pictures or what ever information you can supply to aid us in collecting the claim.

    ALL CLAIMS MUST HAVE DECLINATION, LOCAL CHAIRPERSON’S APPEAL, SUPERINTENDENT'S DECLINE AND ALL SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION.

SUSPENSIONS AND DISMISSALS: Information Required

We encourage Local Chairman to have claims conferences on their property with the designated Carrier Officers in their area. This way the members will get their money much sooner, as things may get complicated after the claims are received in our office. We suggest that you list the claims on paper and send them to the designated officer requesting a conference and that time limits be waived. You should also send a copy of the declination with each claim. After the conference, all claims that were not settled should be sent to this office. THEY MUST HAVE A DENIAL STAMP OR LETTER WITH A DATE AND A CARRIER I.D. NUMBER FROM THE DIVISION SUPERINTENDENT’S OFFICE.

When an employee is dismissed or suspended as a result of a hearing we need the following information:

  1. Copy of the transcript

  2. All letters of notice and postponements

  3. Letter of suspension or dismissal (which ever applies)

  4. Local Chairperson’s appeal

  5. The Superintendent’s reply to your appeal

  6. The employee’s date of birth and age and all seniority dates

If the transcript you receive is incomplete, you must send a letter of protest to the Superintendent. Mail a copy of the protest letter and the Superintendent’s reply to our office for our file. Please keep in mind that regardless of the transcript, 30 or 60 day time limits (depending on your district) are in effect beginning on the date on the letter of suspension/dismissal, so be aware of them.

Thank you for reviewing the Claims Appeal process. Please print out this page as a reference for your files. If you have any questions regarding the process, please feel free to call our office at 865-681-3939.

This page last updated: 03/17/2005