Opinion ID: 6078
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Inconsistent Enforcement of Leave Policy

Text: Parham next argues that Carrier's policy of firing employees who had been on leave for more than 24 months was not neutrally applied. In support of his claim Parham states: In our case, Carrier admits this policy was not neutrally applied. Instead, it was implemented to eliminate workers' compensation claims, targeted at those who had filed such claims, and, in fact, applied only to those who had filed such claims. Parham favors us with no references to the record to substantiate this statement, and we can find none. If Carrier did fail to apply the 1989 CBA neutrally, it failed in a way that benefitted Parham. The 1989 CBA grants employees only twenty-four months of disability leave. But Parham was given notice of termination approximately twenty-nine (29) months after he began his leave of absence. He therefore received a five-month 15 Parham does not dispute that each of twenty discharged people had been on leave for more than 24 months before they were fired. Neither does he respond to Carrier's claim that over 100 of its 600 employees had previously filed compensation claims without being terminated by Carrier. 10 moratorium.16 Moreover, after Parham received the termination letter he was afforded an additional six months before his termination became final in which to secure a full-duty release from a physician. This, coupled with his five-month moratorium, gave him a leave of absence eleven months longer than he was entitled to under the literal terms of the 1989 CBA, as understood by the parties that negotiated the agreement.17 Thus, even if Carrier did fail to apply its new policy rigidly and uniformly, such a flexible and inconsistent application of the 1989 CBA actually inured to Parham's benefit; he cannot be heard to complain about that.