
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
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[Laws in effect as of January 23, 2000]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 23, 2000 and December 4, 2001]
[CITE: 45USC153]

 
                           TITLE 45--RAILROADS
 
                        CHAPTER 8--RAILWAY LABOR
 
                    SUBCHAPTER I--GENERAL PROVISIONS
 
Sec. 153. National Railroad Adjustment Board


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) of this section, 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.

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


                               Amendments

    1970--Par. First, (a). Pub. L. 91-234, Sec. 1, substituted ``thirty-
four members, seventeen of whom shall be selected by the carriers and 
seventeen'' for ``thirty-six members, eighteen of whom shall be selected 
by the carriers and eighteen''.
    Par. First, (b). Pub. L. 91-234, Sec. 2, provided that no carrier or 
system of carriers have more than one voting representative on any 
division of the National Railroad Adjustment Board.
    Par. First, (c). Pub. L. 91-234, Sec. 3, inserted ``Except as 
provided in the second paragraph of subsection (h) of this section'' 
before ``the national labor organizations'', and provided that no labor 
organization have more than one voting representative on any division of 
the National Railroad Adjustment Board.
    Par. First, (h). Pub. L. 91-234, Sec. 4, decreased number of members 
on First division of Board from ten to eight members, with an 
accompanying decrease of five to four as number of members of such Board 
elected respectively by the carriers and by the national labor 
organizations satisfying the enumerated requirements, and set forth 
provisos which limited voting by each labor organization or carrier 
member in any proceedings of the division or in adoption of any award.
    Par. First, (k). Pub. L. 91-234, Sec. 5, inserted ``except as 
provided in paragraph (h) of this section'' after proviso.
    Par. First, (n). Pub. L. 91-234, Sec. 6, inserted ``eligible to 
vote'' after ``Adjustment Board''.
    1966--Par. First, (m). Pub. L. 89-456, Sec. 2(a), struck out ``, 
except insofar as they shall contain a money award'' from second 
sentence.
    Par. First, (o). Pub. L. 89-456, Sec. 2(b), inserted provision for a 
division to make an order to the petitioner stating that an award 
favorable to the petitioner should not be made in any dispute referred 
to it.
    Par. First, (p). Pub. L. 89-456, Sec. 2(c), (d), substituted in 
second sentence ``conclusive on the parties'' for ``prima facie evidence 
of the facts therein stated'' and inserted in last sentence reasons for 
setting aside orders of a division of the Adjustment Board, 
respectively.
    Par. First, (q) to (x). Pub. L. 89-456, Sec. 2(e), added par. (q) 
and redesignated former pars. (q) to (w) as (r) to (x), respectively.
    Par. Second. Pub. L. 89-456, Sec. 1, provided for establishment of 
special adjustment boards upon request of employees or carriers to 
resolve disputes otherwise referable to the Adjustment Board and made 
awards of such boards final.
    1934--Act June 21, 1934, amended provisions comprising this section 
generally.


                    Federal Rules of Civil Procedure

    Costs, see rule 54, Title 28, Appendix, Judiciary and Judicial 
Procedure.
    Federal Rules of Civil Procedure as governing the procedure in all 
suits of a civil nature whether cognizable as cases at law or in equity, 
see rule 1.
    Mandamus as abolished but relief yet available by appropriate action 
or motion under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, see rule 81.
    One form of action, see rule 2.
    Pleadings allowed, see rule 7.

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in sections 154, 157, 181, 182, 184, 
185, 797c, 797h, 797m of this title; title 49 section 20109.
