The Federal Employers
Liability Act (FELA) works in connection with other liability laws to
create a comprehensive recovery system for railroad workers
and their families. Unlike its counterpart (Workers Compensation), it allows for
full recovery of damages resulting from a negligent act by a railroad employer
or a co-worker.
Many forms of negligence are
often overlooked or go unrecognized by accident victims. Your railroad
employer will immediately begin trying to hide anything they feel may
indicate negligence/liability on their part. They will also do everything
in their power to prevent your accident from becoming a reportable.
Things such as prescriptions, x-rays, lost time, and splints,
require your employer to report your accident to the Federal Government.
Management will often be very forceful in their attempts to persuade injured
employees not to receive certain medical intervention.
The first thing you should worry
about is proper medical care. You should not be asked and you should not submit to
any interrogation or questioning before receiving whatever medical intervention
you feel you need. Wait until your mind is clear before reading and filling out the
accident report. If a company official offers to, or does fill out the report for
you, make sure your mind is clear and you have read it carefully before you sign it.
If anything is not agreeable to you concerning the report, ask for another report
and fill it out yourself. This report is the only requirement under the law you must
meet. You are not required to give a statement, recorded or otherwise, and you are
not required to talk to any company official beyond the report, period!
As soon as you're physically and mentally able,
the law (Accident Report Act) requires you to fill out a company provided
accident report. The accident report must be read carefully and filled out cautiously,
keeping in mind, every action has a reaction. Questions like; was anyone at fault, and/or,
did you have a reasonably safe place to work, are very confusing and are often answered
based on generalities and not specifics. If you had a reasonably safe place to work
you would not have been injured, if you did not have a reasonably safe place to work
someone was at fault. These questions are worded in many different ways on different
reports, but the objective is to cause the injured person to say it was an accident and
no one was at fault. Later this document will be enlarged and presented to
the jury as evidence against you.
Other forms of liability also
exist in conjunction with liability under the Federal Employers Liability Act.
The Boiler Inspection Act and the The Safety Appliance Act,
also may play a role in a personal injury claim. These two acts
require your railroad employer to provide you with safe equipment.
The Boiler Inspection Act:
Requires locomotives and locomotive parts
be in good working condition.
The Safety Inspection Act:
Mandates brakes, grab-irons, automatic coupling devices, and hand-holds be in proper
condition.
Failures that can be proven under
either of the two acts above, make your railroad employer 100%
percent liable for any damages that may result.
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This page was last updated by Tim Latimer on:
July 1, 2005