BNSF prevails in litigation seeking to vacate award in violation of agreement with UTU

Client(s) BNSF Railway Company

Jones represented BNSF in litigation of an arbitration award involving the dismissal of an engineer for various rule violations. The case went to arbitration before a PLB, and the arbitrator concluded that the engineer had been dismissed without a fair and impartial investigation and ordered the employee reinstated, but without backpay and on the condition that he could never again be an engineer, only a conductor. In the subsequent litigation, BNSF sought to vacate the award, on the ground that the remedy fashioned by the arbitrator violated its agreements with the United Transportation Union (by essentially awarding the employee "super-seniority" as a conductor), while BLET sought to uphold the award. The court vacated the award, and remanded to the First Division of the NRAB (and not the prior PLB with the same arbitrator, as BLET had advocated).

BNSF Railway Co. v. BLET & UTU, No. 4-09-cv-602-A (N.D. Tex.)