The Source for Railroad Injuries & Whistleblower Protection
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…
Every railroad has them. Vague safety rules that are triggered only when a worker reports an injury. In a blistering Decision, a veteran Administrative Law Judge spells out why the use of such rules mandate the award of Federal Rail Safety Act punitive damages.
Union Pacific employee Brian Petersen was leaning against his car in…
The message of the Federal Rail Safety Act is clear: "safety trumps discipline." And until railroads fully embrace that new reality, the number of FRSA complaints will continue at a record pace.
Williams v. Grand Trunk Western Railroad is the latest confirmation of this new reality. In addition to elucidating the employee friendly standards governing…
When airline pilots feel medically unfit to fly, they have a right to stand down and seek medical attention without any adverse consequences. Thanks to the Federal Rail Safety Act, locomotive engineers (and all other railroad workers) now enjoy the same right to protect themselves, their co-workers, and the public.
When Locomotive Engineer Lonnie Smith…
Yet another federal district court judge has rejected rail management’s election of remedies defense to Federal Rail Safety Act whistleblower retaliation complaints. You can add Ratledge v. Norfolk Southern Railway Company to the growing list of federal court decisions dope slapping the railroads who raise such a hapless argument: see Solis, Reed, and…
Thanks to the Federal Rail Safety Act, railroads can no longer interfere with the medical treatment of injured employees. That fact is being reinforced with punitive damage awards against railroads who ignore this new reality.
In the landmark decision of Santiago v. Metro North Railroad, the Administrative Review Board held that FRSA "Section…
Another federal district court judge has rejected rail management’s bogus "election of remedies" defense to Federal Rail Safety Act whistleblower retaliation complaints.
Reed v. Norfolk Southern Railway Company concerned a trackman who was fired after reporting an injury. While the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees union was representing him for that disciplinary action, Reed also filed a complaint…