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Wrongful Death Damages Available Under the FELA
February 7th, 2013
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 individual…
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OSHA awards $800,000 in damages against NS for FRSA violation
June 19th, 2012
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. The…
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Rules Testing as a Form of Harassment
April 11th, 2012
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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Ohio Overtime laws do not apply to railroad workers
March 1st, 2012
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 reasons,…
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“The FELA is a platypus”
February 28th, 2012
“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. It…
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Why I Practice Railroad Law
October 26th, 2011
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 and Percy on…
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Weingarten Rights do not apply to railroad employees
October 10th, 2011
Employees covered by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) have a right to have a union representative or co-worker present during an investigatory interview with management when the employee reasonably believes that the interview might result in d…
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Presidential Emergency Board No. 243
October 7th, 2011
A potential nationwide rail strike was halted yesterday by President Obama, who signed an Executive Order creating Presidential Emergency Board 243 (“PEB”) pursuant to the provisions of the Railway Labor Act (“RLA”). The dispute involves 11 r…
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Don’t Delay – File for RRB Sickness Benefits Immediately
October 6th, 2011
I represent an employee of a small railroad in southern Ohio who does not belong to a union. After suffering an injury at work, he did not know what to do. Without guidance from a union or attorney, he was even unaware of the availability of benefits…
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Categories: Rail Law Blog
Supreme Court affirms reduced causation standard under FELA
July 21st, 2011
The United States Supreme Court decided last month in a 5-4 decision that injured railroad workers can recover damages under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (“FELA”) if the railroad’s negligence “played any part, even the slightest, in…
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Categories: Rail Law Blog