Vallejo

I. BACKGROUND

Vallejo worked for Union Pacific for ten years, primarily as a carman welder. In this position, he worked an 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. shift, maintaining and repairing rail cars. In performing these functions, he drove about the rail yard using a small all-terrain vehicle known as a gator. A. The Events of December 22, 2020 to January 4, 2021 Vallejo was driving a gator toward the end of his shift on December 22, 2020, when it collided with the side of a parked grain car and sustained damage in the form of a detached windshield, a dislodged flood light, and a bent roll bar. Although it had been “wrecked,” the gator was nonetheless operable, so Vallejo drove it away from the scene of the collision, parked it, and threw the windshield into the back of the gator. But Vallejo did not report the collision to his employer as required by company policy. Instead, he departed the rail yard following the end of his shift and drove to his home—which is typically a 30-45-minute commute. Vallejo did not report for his next shift at 11:00 p.m. on December 22. But on the afternoon of December 23, he spoke on the telephone with two Union Pacific supervisors—Paul Friend and Gary…