Last month, the Department of Labor announced that retaliation complaints, including those brought pursuant to the Federal Rail Safety Act (FRSA), can be filed online at the DOL website. This seemingly minor announcement is actually very important…
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When a railroad employee is injured at work, the law usually requires the railroad to report that injury to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). The rules for reporting are set forth at 49 C.F.R. Section 225.19(d). Each death, injury, or o…
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The Third Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court’s decision in favor of the railroad in a claim brought pursuant to the Federal Rail Safety Act (FRSA). The case, Araujo v. New Jersey Transit Rail Operations, Inc., was decided on Februar…
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I previously wrote a post about how railroads can use a system of operational rules testing as a form of harassment and retaliation after workers report safety concerns or injuries on duty. In one such case where those allegations have been made ag…
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A tragic accident occurred yesterday at the ArcelorMittal steel plant in Cleveland, Ohio when a 50 year old railroad employee was killed after falling from a train car.
The incident raises the question of what damages are available to the individua…
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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced yesterday that it has ordered Norfolk Southern Railway Co. to pay over $800,000 in damages on the claims of three employees who were retaliated against after reporting injuries at work. …
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How would you like your supervisor to follow you all day, look over your shoulder at everything you do, and write down every time you make a mistake? This is what railroad employees endure during rules tests on a regular basis. For the vast majority…
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I was recently asked at a union meeting whether any laws in Ohio provide recourse to a railroad worker who was not paid 1 ½ times his regular rate of pay for hours worked in excess of eight hours. The short answer, unfortunately, is no. The rea…
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“In the taxonomy of the law, the Federal Employers’ Liability Act…is a platypus. Intended to provide a remedy for injured railroad workers, the FELA ‘hovers ambivalently between workers’ compensation law and the common law of negligence.…
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When I tell people that I specialize in railroad law, they inevitably wonder two things. What is railroad law? I imagine people thinking that I have Sir Topham Hatt as a client and we discuss the legality of certain train moves by Thomas an…
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