Judge Robert Katzmann
MTA police discovered Sokolowski and other Metro-North Railroad workers in the presence contraband. Sokolowski tested positive for marijuana. The MTA's Labor Relations Department denied appeal from dismissal. Before a special adjustment board set up as an alternative forum to the National Railroad Adjustment Board (NRAB), Sokolowski argued he should have been offered a waiver under the MTA's SAVE Agreement. The board denied appeal. District court dismissed Sokolowski's appeal from the board's decision he lacked a right to a SAVE waiver. Affirming, Second Circuit ruled a party waives a challenge to a special adjustment board's jurisdiction when he concedes its jurisdiction before the board. Sokolowski's submission acknowledged "[t]he dispute is now properly before the Board for adjudication," thereby explicitly conceding board jurisdiction. Discussing Union Pacific Railroad v. Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and Opals on Ice Lingerie v. Body Linens, the circuit noted that although a party cannot waive an objection to NRAB jurisdiction, a party can waive an argument based on a special adjustment board's jurisdictional limits, which are established by the parties themselves.
