45 U.S.C. § 153 — National Railroad Adjustment Board

submitted 100 years ago by ch. 347 to r/title-45-RAILROADS · 3,717 words · no verdicts yet

in plain englishAI-generated · not legal advice

This law creates the National Railroad Adjustment Board to resolve disputes between railroads and their employees. Railroads and national labor unions each pick half of the Board's 34 members, split across four divisions by job type. The law also lets railroads and unions set up their own private adjustment boards instead, and it lets either side sue in federal court to enforce or challenge a Board award.

First. Establishing the Board. The National Railroad Adjustment Board was created, with members selected within thirty days after June 21, 1934. (a) The Board has 34 members: 17 chosen by the carriers (railroads) and 17 chosen by national labor organizations representing employees. (b) Each carrier picks its own representatives, through its board of directors, receiver, trustee, or a designated officer. No carrier or group of carriers gets more than one voting seat per division. (c) Except as subsection (h) provides, each national labor organization picks its own labor members the same way, through its chief executive or other designated official. No labor organization gets more than one voting seat per division. (d) If a seat opens up, permanently or temporarily, it is filled the same way the original member was chosen. (e) If carriers or labor organizations fail to pick their representatives within 60 days of June 21, 1934 (for an original appointment) or within 30 days of a vacancy, the Mediation Board appoints someone itself, choosing someone aligned with whichever side failed to pick. (f) If a dispute arises over whether a labor organization has the right to help pick Board members, the Secretary of Labor investigates. If the claim has merit, the Secretary tells the Mediation Board, which then asks the qualified labor organizations to pick a representative. That representative, one picked by the group with the disputed claim, and a neutral third party picked by the Mediation Board form a three-person panel. Within 30 days of appointing the neutral member, this panel decides whether the labor organization qualifies to participate — and that decision is final. (g) Each Board member is paid by whichever side (carriers or unions) they represent. Each neutral third party under (f) is paid by the Mediation Board, plus travel and living expenses. (h) The Board has four divisions, each working independently: — First division: train and yard-service employees (engineers, firemen, conductors, trainmen, and similar). 8 members — 4 from carriers, 4 from labor. Each labor organization can seat two members, but no single labor organization gets more than one vote, and the carrier members together can cast no more than two votes on any dispute. — Second division: machinists, boilermakers, electrical workers, carmen, and related shop trades. 10 members — 5 from carriers, 5 from labor. — Third division: station, tower, and telegraph employees; train dispatchers; maintenance-of-way workers; clerical and freight employees; signal workers; and sleeping-car and dining-car employees. 10 members — 5 from carriers, 5 from labor. — Fourth division: employees involved in water transportation of people or property, and any other employees not covered by the first three divisions. 6 members — 3 from carriers, 3 from labor. (i) Disputes between an employee (or group of employees) and a carrier — grievances or disagreements over how to apply an agreement on pay, rules, or working conditions — must first go through the carrier's normal process, up to its chief operating officer. If that does not resolve things, either party can refer the dispute to the right division of the Board, with a full statement of the facts. (j) Parties can appear in person, through a lawyer, or through another representative. Each division must give proper notice of hearings to everyone involved. (k) A division can let two or more of its members hold hearings and make findings anywhere it designates. But except as (h) allows, the full division must make the final award. (l) If a division deadlocks or cannot get a majority vote, it must pick a neutral "referee" to join as a member and help make the award. If the division cannot agree on a referee within 10 days, any member or party can ask the Mediation Board to pick one within 10 more days. The Mediation Board pays the referee, under the same rules used for arbitrators elsewhere in this chapter. (m) The awards must be written down and given to both parties. They are final and binding. If a dispute arises over what an award means, the division must interpret it on request of either party. (n) A majority vote of the division's eligible members is enough to make an award. (o) If the division rules for the employee (petitioner), it orders the carrier to comply and, if money is owed, to pay by a set date. If it rules against the petitioner, it issues an order explaining that. (p) If a carrier does not comply with a division's order in time, the petitioner (or anyone the order benefits) can sue in federal district court — either where they live, or where the carrier's main office or operations are. The court treats the case like any other civil suit, except: the division's findings and order are treated as conclusive, the petitioner does not have to pay court costs (those come from the courts' own appropriation) unless they appeal, and the court can issue orders — including a writ of mandamus — to enforce or set aside the division's order. The court can only set an order aside if the division failed to follow this chapter's rules, if the order goes beyond the division's authority, or because of fraud or corruption by a division member. A petitioner who ultimately wins gets a reasonable attorney's fee as part of the court costs. (q) If an employee, group of employees, or carrier is unhappy that a division failed to make an award, or with the award's terms, they can file a petition asking the same district court to review the division's order. The court sends a copy to the Board, and the Board must file the case record. The court can affirm the order, set it aside in whole or part, or send it back to the division for more action. Just like in (p), the court can only overturn the order for failing to follow this chapter, exceeding the division's authority, or fraud or corruption. Court decisions can be appealed under title 28, sections 1291 and 1254. (r) Any lawsuit under this section must start within 2 years of when the cause of action arose under the division's award. (s) The Board's divisions must be headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, meet regularly, and stay in session as long as they have unresolved matters pending. (t) Wherever it is practical, the divisions get office space in a federal building at their meeting location. (u) With the Mediation Board's approval, the Adjustment Board can hire and pay whatever staff it needs; the Mediation Board pays their salaries. (v) The Board must meet within 40 days of June 21, 1934, to adopt rules for running its proceedings. Right after that, each division organizes by picking a chairman, vice chairman, and secretary. After that, each division picks a new chairman and vice chairman every year — alternating between a carrier representative and an employee representative for each role. Vacancies are filled from the same group (carrier or labor) for the rest of the term. (w) Each division must report yearly on its activities to the Mediation Board, and that gets folded into the Mediation Board's annual report to Congress. These reports must list every case heard, every action taken, the names, salaries, and duties of everyone paid under this chapter, and every dollar Congress appropriated and the Board spent. (x) Any division can set up regional adjustment boards to act in its place for a limited time. Carrier members of a regional board follow rules the Board's carrier members set; labor members follow rules the Board's labor members set. A regional board has the same power to hold hearings, make findings, and follow the same process as the division that created it, and its decisions are enforced the same way. A neutral referee can join a regional board the same way as under (l). Second. Voluntary boards set up by agreement. Nothing in this section stops an individual carrier, a system, or a group of carriers, together with their employees, from voluntarily agreeing to set up their own system, group, or regional adjustment boards — using representatives chosen the way this chapter requires — to handle disputes instead of using the national Board. If either side becomes unhappy with that private arrangement, it can give 90 days' notice and switch back to the national Board's jurisdiction. If a craft or class of employees' representative asks a carrier in writing to set up a special adjustment board — either for disputes that would normally go to the Board, or for a dispute that has been pending at the Board for 12 months — the carrier and the representative must agree to set one up within 30 days. A carrier can make the same request of a representative. The agreement establishing the board defines what cases it will hear. The board has one member picked by the carrier and one picked by the employees' representative. If either side will not agree to set up the board, or will not pick its member, the side that requested it can ask the Mediation Board to pick a member on behalf of the side that refused. The Mediation Board then picks someone aligned with that side. Each member is paid by the side they represent. The two members decide anything about the board's setup and jurisdiction that the carrier and representative had not already agreed on. If they cannot agree, a neutral member — picked the same way as when the board deadlocks on an award — decides those questions, and then leaves the board. If the two members cannot agree on an award for a dispute, they jointly pick a neutral person to join for that dispute. If they cannot agree on who that neutral person should be within 10 days, either member can ask the Mediation Board to appoint one. The Mediation Board pays and reimburses that neutral person. Any two of the board's members can make a valid award. These awards are final and binding, and if they favor the employee, they order the carrier to comply by a set date. Compliance can be enforced by suing in federal district court, the same way the national Board's awards are enforced.

the actual law source: uscode.house.gov ↗public domain

First. Establishment; composition; powers and duties; divisions; hearings and awards; judicial review

There is established a Board, to be known as the “National Railroad Adjustment Board”, the members of which shall be selected within thirty days after June 21, 1934, and it is provided—

(a) That the said Adjustment Board shall consist of thirty-four members, seventeen of whom shall be selected by the carriers and seventeen by such labor organizations of the employees, national in scope, as have been or may be organized in accordance with the provisions of sections 151a and 152 of this title.

(b) The carriers, acting each through its board of directors or its receiver or receivers, trustee or trustees, or through an officer or officers designated for that purpose by such board, trustee or trustees, or receiver or receivers, shall prescribe the rules under which its representatives shall be selected and shall select the representatives of the carriers on the Adjustment Board and designate the division on which each such representative shall serve, but no carrier or system of carriers shall have more than one voting representative on any division of the Board.

(c) Except as provided in the second paragraph of subsection (h) of this section, the national labor organizations, as defined in paragraph (a) of this section, acting each through the chief executive or other medium designated by the organization or association thereof, shall prescribe the rules under which the labor members of the Adjustment Board shall be selected and shall select such members and designate the division on which each member shall serve; but no labor organization shall have more than one voting representative on any division of the Board.

(d) In case of a permanent or temporary vacancy on the Adjustment Board, the vacancy shall be filled by selection in the same manner as in the original selection.

(e) If either the carriers or the labor organizations of the employees fail to select and designate representatives to the Adjustment Board, as provided in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section, respectively, within sixty days after June 21, 1934, in case of any original appointment to office of a member of the Adjustment Board, or in case of a vacancy in any such office within thirty days after such vacancy occurs, the Mediation Board shall thereupon directly make the appointment and shall select an individual associated in interest with the carriers or the group of labor organizations of employees, whichever he is to represent.

(f) In the event a dispute arises as to the right of any national labor organization to participate as per paragraph (c) of this section in the selection and designation of the labor members of the Adjustment Board, the Secretary of Labor shall investigate the claim of such labor organization to participate, and if such claim in the judgment of the Secretary of Labor has merit, the Secretary shall notify the Mediation Board accordingly, and within ten days after receipt of such advice the Mediation Board shall request those national labor organizations duly qualified as per paragraph (c) of this section to participate in the selection and designation of the labor members of the Adjustment Board to select a representative. Such representative, together with a representative likewise designated by the claimant, and a third or neutral party designated by the Mediation Board, constituting a board of three, shall within thirty days after the appointment of the neutral member, investigate the claims of the labor organization desiring participation and decide whether or not it was organized in accordance with sections 151a and 152 of this title and is otherwise properly qualified to participate in the selection of the labor members of the Adjustment Board, and the findings of such boards of three shall be final and binding.

(g) Each member of the Adjustment Board shall be compensated by the party or parties he is to represent. Each third or neutral party selected under the provisions of paragraph (f) of this section shall receive from the Mediation Board such compensation as the Mediation Board may fix, together with his necessary traveling expenses and expenses actually incurred for subsistence, or per diem allowance in lieu thereof, subject to the provisions of law applicable thereto, while serving as such third or neutral party.

(h) The said Adjustment Board shall be composed of four divisions, whose proceedings shall be independent of one another, and the said divisions as well as the number of their members shall be as follows:

First division: To have jurisdiction over disputes involving train- and yard-service employees of carriers; that is, engineers, firemen, hostlers, and outside hostler helpers, conductors, trainmen, and yard-service employees. This division shall consist of eight members, four of whom shall be selected and designated by the carriers and four of whom shall be selected and designated by the labor organizations, national in scope and organized in accordance with sections 151a and 152 of this title and which represent employees in engine, train, yard, or hostling service: Provided, however, That each labor organization shall select and designate two members on the First Division and that no labor organization shall have more than one vote in any proceedings of the First Division or in the adoption of any award with respect to any dispute submitted to the First Division: Provided further, however, That the carrier members of the First Division shall cast no more than two votes in any proceedings of the division or in the adoption of any award with respect to any dispute submitted to the First Division.

Second division: To have jurisdiction over disputes involving machinists, boilermakers, blacksmiths, sheet-metal workers, electrical workers, carmen, the helpers and apprentices of all the foregoing, coach cleaners, power-house employees, and railroad-shop laborers. This division shall consist of ten members, five of whom shall be selected by the carriers and five by the national labor organizations of the employees.

Third division: To have jurisdiction over disputes involving station, tower, and telegraph employees, train dispatchers, maintenance-of-way men, clerical employees, freight handlers, express, station, and store employees, signal men, sleeping-car conductors, sleeping-car porters, and maids and dining-car employees. This division shall consist of ten members, five of whom shall be selected by the carriers and five by the national labor organizations of employees.

Fourth division: To have jurisdiction over disputes involving employees of carriers directly or indirectly engaged in transportation of passengers or property by water, and all other employees of carriers over which jurisdiction is not given to the first, second, and third divisions. This division shall consist of six members, three of whom shall be selected by the carriers and three by the national labor organizations of the employees.

(i) The disputes between an employee or group of employees and a carrier or carriers growing out of grievances or out of the interpretation or application of agreements concerning rates of pay, rules, or working conditions, including cases pending and unadjusted on June 21, 1934, shall be handled in the usual manner up to and including the chief operating officer of the carrier designated to handle such disputes; but, failing to reach an adjustment in this manner, the disputes may be referred by petition of the parties or by either party to the appropriate division of the Adjustment Board with a full statement of the facts and all supporting data bearing upon the disputes.

(j) Parties may be heard either in person, by counsel, or by other representatives, as they may respectively elect, and the several divisions of the Adjustment Board shall give due notice of all hearings to the employee or employees and the carrier or carriers involved in any disputes submitted to them.

(k) Any division of the Adjustment Board shall have authority to empower two or more of its members to conduct hearings and make findings upon disputes, when properly submitted, at any place designated by the division: Provided, however, That except as provided in paragraph (h) of this section, final awards as to any such dispute must be made by the entire division as hereinafter provided.

(l) Upon failure of any division to agree upon an award because of a deadlock or inability to secure a majority vote of the division members, as provided in paragraph (n) of this section, then such division shall forthwith agree upon and select a neutral person, to be known as “referee”, to sit with the division as a member thereof, and make an award. Should the division fail to agree upon and select a referee within ten days of the date of the deadlock or inability to secure a majority vote, then the division, or any member thereof, or the parties or either party to the dispute may certify that fact to the Mediation Board, which Board shall, within ten days from the date of receiving such certificate, select and name the referee to sit with the division as a member thereof and make an award. The Mediation Board shall be bound by the same provisions in the appointment of these neutral referees as are provided elsewhere in this chapter for the appointment of arbitrators and shall fix and pay the compensation of such referees.

(m) The awards of the several divisions of the Adjustment Board shall be stated in writing. A copy of the awards shall be furnished to the respective parties to the controversy, and the awards shall be final and binding upon both parties to the dispute. In case a dispute arises involving an interpretation of the award, the division of the board upon request of either party shall interpret the award in the light of the dispute.

(n) A majority vote of all members of the division of the Adjustment Board eligible to vote shall be competent to make an award with respect to any dispute submitted to it.

(o) In case of an award by any division of the Adjustment Board in favor of petitioner, the division of the Board shall make an order, directed to the carrier, to make the award effective and, if the award includes a requirement for the payment of money, to pay to the employee the sum to which he is entitled under the award on or before a day named. In the event any division determines that an award favorable to the petitioner should not be made in any dispute referred to it, the division shall make an order to the petitioner stating such determination.

(p) If a carrier does not comply with an order of a division of the Adjustment Board within the time limit in such order, the petitioner, or any person for whose benefit such order was made, may file in the District Court of the United States for the district in which he resides or in which is located the principal operating office of the carrier, or through which the carrier operates, a petition setting forth briefly the causes for which he claims relief, and the order of the division of the Adjustment Board in the premises. Such suit in the District Court of the United States shall proceed in all respects as other civil suits, except that on the trial of such suit the findings and order of the division of the Adjustment Board shall be conclusive on the parties, and except that the petitioner shall not be liable for costs in the district court nor for costs at any subsequent stage of the proceedings, unless they accrue upon his appeal, and such costs shall be paid out of the appropriation for the expenses of the courts of the United States. If the petitioner shall finally prevail he shall be allowed a reasonable attorney’s fee, to be taxed and collected as a part of the costs of the suit. The district courts are empowered, under the rules of the court governing actions at law, to make such order and enter such judgment, by writ of mandamus or otherwise, as may be appropriate to enforce or set aside the order of the division of the Adjustment Board: Provided, however, That such order may not be set aside except for failure of the division to comply with the requirements of this chapter, for failure of the order to conform, or confine itself, to matters within the scope of the division’s jurisdiction, or for fraud or corruption by a member of the division making the order.

(q) If any employee or group of employees, or any carrier, is aggrieved by the failure of any division of the Adjustment Board to make an award in a dispute referred to it, or is aggrieved by any of the terms of an award or by the failure of the division to include certain terms in such award, then such employee or group of employees or carrier may file in any United States district court in which a petition under paragraph (p) could be filed, a petition for review of the division’s order. A copy of the petition shall be forthwith transmitted by the clerk of the court to the Adjustment Board. The Adjustment Board shall file in the court the record of the proceedings on which it based its action. The court shall have jurisdiction to affirm the order of the division, or to set it aside, in whole or in part, or it may remand the proceedings to the division for such further action as it may direct. On such review, the findings and order of the division shall be conclusive on the parties, except that the order of the division may be set aside, in whole or in part, or remanded to the division, for failure of the division to comply with the requirements of this chapter, for failure of the order to conform, or confine itself, to matters within the scope of the division’s jurisdiction, or for fraud or corruption by a member of the division making the order. The judgment of the court shall be subject to review as provided in sections 1291 and 1254 of title 28.

(r) All actions at law based upon the provisions of this section shall be begun within two years from the time the cause of action accrues under the award of the division of the Adjustment Board, and not after.

(s) The several divisions of the Adjustment Board shall maintain headquarters in Chicago, Illinois, meet regularly, and continue in session so long as there is pending before the division any matter within its jurisdiction which has been submitted for its consideration and which has not been disposed of.

(t) Whenever practicable, the several divisions or subdivisions of the Adjustment Board shall be supplied with suitable quarters in any Federal building located at its place of meeting.

(u) The Adjustment Board may, subject to the approval of the Mediation Board, employ and fix the compensations of such assistants as it deems necessary in carrying on its proceedings. The compensation of such employees shall be paid by the Mediation Board.

(v) The Adjustment Board shall meet within forty days after June 21, 1934, and adopt such rules as it deems necessary to control proceedings before the respective divisions and not in conflict with the provisions of this section. Immediately following the meeting of the entire Board and the adoption of such rules, the respective divisions shall meet and organize by the selection of a chairman, a vice chairman, and a secretary. Thereafter each division shall annually designate one of its members to act as chairman and one of its members to act as vice chairman: Provided, however, That the chairmanship and vice-chairmanship of any division shall alternate as between the groups, so that both the chairmanship and vice-chairmanship shall be held alternately by a representative of the carriers and a representative of the employees. In case of a vacancy, such vacancy shall be filled for the unexpired term by the selection of a successor from the same group.

(w) Each division of the Adjustment Board shall annually prepare and submit a report of its activities to the Mediation Board, and the substance of such report shall be included in the annual report of the Mediation Board to the Congress of the United States. The reports of each division of the Adjustment Board and the annual report of the Mediation Board shall state in detail all cases heard, all actions taken, the names, salaries, and duties of all agencies, employees, and officers receiving compensation from the United States under the authority of this chapter, and an account of all moneys appropriated by Congress pursuant to the authority conferred by this chapter and disbursed by such agencies, employees, and officers.

(x) Any division of the Adjustment Board shall have authority, in its discretion, to establish regional adjustment boards to act in its place and stead for such limited period as such division may determine to be necessary. Carrier members of such regional boards shall be designated in keeping with rules devised for this purpose by the carrier members of the Adjustment Board and the labor members shall be designated in keeping with rules devised for this purpose by the labor members of the Adjustment Board. Any such regional board shall, during the time for which it is appointed, have the same authority to conduct hearings, make findings upon disputes and adopt the same procedure as the division of the Adjustment Board appointing it, and its decisions shall be enforceable to the same extent and under the same processes. A neutral person, as referee, shall be appointed for service in connection with any such regional adjustment board in the same circumstances and manner as provided in paragraph (l) hereof, with respect to a division of the Adjustment Board.

Second. System, group, or regional boards: establishment by voluntary agreement; special adjustment boards: establishment, composition, designation of representatives by Mediation Board, neutral member, compensation, quorum, finality and enforcement of awards

Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent any individual carrier, system, or group of carriers and any class or classes of its or their employees, all acting through their representatives, selected in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, from mutually agreeing to the establishment of system, group, or regional boards of adjustment for the purpose of adjusting and deciding disputes of the character specified in this section. In the event that either party to such a system, group, or regional board of adjustment is dissatisfied with such arrangement, it may upon ninety days’ notice to the other party elect to come under the jurisdiction of the Adjustment Board.

If written request is made upon any individual carrier by the representative of any craft or class of employees of such carrier for the establishment of a special board of adjustment to resolve disputes otherwise referable to the Adjustment Board, or any dispute which has been pending before the Adjustment Board for twelve months from the date the dispute (claim) is received by the Board, or if any carrier makes such a request upon any such representative, the carrier or the representative upon whom such request is made shall join in an agreement establishing such a board within thirty days from the date such request is made. The cases which may be considered by such board shall be defined in the agreement establishing it. Such board shall consist of one person designated by the carrier and one person designated by the representative of the employees. If such carrier or such representative fails to agree upon the establishment of such a board as provided herein, or to exercise its rights to designate a member of the board, the carrier or representative making the request for the establishment of the special board may request the Mediation Board to designate a member of the special board on behalf of the carrier or representative upon whom such request was made. Upon receipt of a request for such designation the Mediation Board shall promptly make such designation and shall select an individual associated in interest with the carrier or representative he is to represent, who, with the member appointed by the carrier or representative requesting the establishment of the special board, shall constitute the board. Each member of the board shall be compensated by the party he is to represent. The members of the board so designated shall determine all matters not previously agreed upon by the carrier and the representative of the employees with respect to the establishment and jurisdiction of the board. If they are unable to agree such matters shall be determined by a neutral member of the board selected or appointed and compensated in the same manner as is hereinafter provided with respect to situations where the members of the board are unable to agree upon an award. Such neutral member shall cease to be a member of the board when he has determined such matters. If with respect to any dispute or group of disputes the members of the board designated by the carrier and the representative are unable to agree upon an award disposing of the dispute or group of disputes they shall by mutual agreement select a neutral person to be a member of the board for the consideration and disposition of such dispute or group of disputes. In the event the members of the board designated by the parties are unable, within ten days after their failure to agree upon an award, to agree upon the selection of such neutral person, either member of the board may request the Mediation Board to appoint such neutral person and upon receipt of such request the Mediation Board shall promptly make such appointment. The neutral person so selected or appointed shall be compensated and reimbursed for expenses by the Mediation Board. Any two members of the board shall be competent to render an award. Such awards shall be final and binding upon both parties to the dispute and if in favor of the petitioner, shall direct the other party to comply therewith on or before the day named. Compliance with such awards shall be enforcible by proceedings in the United States district courts in the same manner and subject to the same provisions that apply to proceedings for enforcement of compliance with awards of the Adjustment Board.

Source credit: (May 20, 1926, ch. 347, § 3, 44 Stat. 578; June 21, 1934, ch. 691, § 3, 48 Stat. 1189; Pub. L. 89–456, §§ 1, 2, June 20, 1966, 80 Stat. 208, 209; Pub. L. 91–234, §§ 1–6, Apr. 23, 1970, 84 Stat. 199, 200.)

history & why it existsrecord from the source credit

1926Enacted · Act of May 20, 1926, ch. 347 · 44 Stat. 578
1934Amended · Act of June 21, 1934, ch. 691 · 48 Stat. 1189
1966Amended · Pub. L. 89-456 · 80 Stat. 208, 209
1970Amended · Pub. L. 91-234 · 84 Stat. 199, 200

A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by ch. 347 on 1926-05-20.

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