The railroads obviously have gotten together and agreed to push the bogus argument that any involvement by an employee in the Railway Labor Act CBA grievance-discipline process automatically constitutes an "election of remedies" under Federal Rail Safety Act subsection (f) that precludes any FRSA complaint. It is a bogus argument because it completely ignores the effect
July 2009
Subcontracting Is No Escape From FELA and FRSA Liability
By Charlie Goetsch on
Posted in Federal Rail Safety Act, FELA Injuries
Rail union rep Joe Coleman from Seattle has a question about the FELA liability of railroads who contract out work. His General Foreman recently hired subcontractors to band freight car loads that had shifted due to broken banding, and when challenged tried to justify it by arguing that since the subcontractors are self-insured, the railroad…