The Source for Railroad Injuries & Whistleblower Protection
Here’s a Miscellany of Federal Rail Safety Act items, ranging from the United States Supreme Court to how to file in federal district court to how to award attorney fees.
United States Supreme Court Cites Section 20109
Protecting whistleblowers has deep bipartisan support in Congress, and the United States Supreme Court also goes out of…
In a definitive decision, a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has barred railroads from using RLA arbitration findings to preclude Federal Rail Safety Act whistleblower retaliation cases. The Court held that self-serving railroad disciplinary hearings cannot and do not have any effect on the right of employees to sue railroads for violating the FRSA.
The…
Two recent decisions clarify the "intervening event" defense, the limitations period, and the basis for emotional distress damages in Federal Rail Safety Act cases.
An "Intervening Event" Is Not A FRSA Defense
Railroads often argue that the firing of an employee was based on an "intervening event" that breaks the causal connection between the FRSA protected activity and…
For years, railroads have argued that a worker’s pursuit of collective bargaining agreement arbitration constitutes an “election of remedies” defense to a Federal Rail Safety Act claim. But after being rejected by half a dozen judges, that bogus defense was on life support. Now, in a devastating decision, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has…
Responding to my recent post about Metro North Railroad’s Spuyten Duyvil train derailment, Colin O’Keefe of LXBN interviewed me regarding the culture of rail safety on our nations railroads, and the external and internal factors that make it so subpar. Rail employees are the eyes and ears of safety on the property, but recently Congress and OSHA’s Whistleblower Directorate have confirmed…
Enough is enough. The time has come to transform the safety culture of our nation’s railroads, starting with Metro North. Today’s fatal crash of a Metro North passenger train in New York (the third derailment in recent months) is a wake up call that something must change, and that something is an unsafe workplace culture…
A recent decision against Amtrak clarifies the Federal Rail Safety Act rights of injured employees to return to work over a railroad’s objection.
After Amtrak locomotive engineer Jonette Nagra reported a work related injury, her treating neurosurgeon kept her out of work on temporary total disability. Eventually her doctor released her to return to work…
An important district court decision spells out how to analyze discipline based on allegedly "false" or "late" injury reports. And also you can add it to the growing list of cases rejecting the hapless "election of remedies" defense still being raised by railroads in Federal Rail Safety Act cases.
Election of Remedies
After Track Department…
It’s official: railroad employees who follow their treating doctor’s orders not to work cannot be disciplined for those absences, even if the absence is due to an off-duty medical condition. Why? Because Bala v. PATH now is the law of the land, having just been affirmed in full by the highest appeals tribunal in…
Question: What is the surest way for a railroad to get hit with punitive damages?
Answer: Base a disciplinary charge on an employee’s FRSA complaint.
Railroads that have tried this bone headed move are now 0-3, and OSHA has slammed them with punitive damages every time.
The latest example comes from Pan Am…