{"id":3300,"date":"2011-08-11T00:19:20","date_gmt":"2011-08-11T07:19:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/?p=3300"},"modified":"2013-04-03T15:11:39","modified_gmt":"2013-04-03T22:11:39","slug":"osha-orders-norfolk-southern-to-pay-damages-to-former-railroad-worker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/3300\/osha-orders-norfolk-southern-to-pay-damages-to-former-railroad-worker\/","title":{"rendered":"OSHA Orders Norfolk Southern To Pay Damages to Former Railroad Worker"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>GREENSBORO, N.C. &#8211; Norfolk Southern Railway has been ordered by The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to pay a former employee who was terminated after he reported an on-the-job injury in 2009.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/norfolk-southern-480.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3304\" title=\"norfolk-southern-480\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/norfolk-southern-480.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"280\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/norfolk-southern-480.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/norfolk-southern-480-300x175.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The former railroad worker, who was initially injured in Jamestown, NC while removing a spike from a rail line, was awarded compensatory damages including pain and suffering; reasonable attorney&#8217;s fees; and $75,000 in punitive damages for the company&#8217;s reckless disregard of the individual&#8217;s rights under the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.whistleblowers.gov\/acts\/frsa.html\" target=\"_blank\">Federal Railroad Safety Act (FRSA)<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>DigTriad.com reports:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The OSHA report said the worker did not report the initial injury &#8220;fearing loss of employment&#8221;.\u00a0 In October, they said the worker saw a doctor at the advice of management after reinjuring himself.<\/p>\n<p>After returning to work, the report said the worker was suspended and later terminated for &#8220;allegedly falsifying the injury.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>At that point, the employee submitted a complaint to OSHA. OSHA determined during an investigation that the employees rights were violated under the Federal Railroad Safety Act (FRSA). They also found that Norfolk Southern &#8220;successfully intimidated other employees from reporting on-the-job injuries.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>OSHA said the &#8220;chilling effect&#8221; allowed the railway to &#8220;maintain the appearance of an exemplary safety record and continue its 22-consecutive-year record as recipient of the E.H.Harriman Gold Medal Rail Safety Award.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>It is unknown at this time whether Norfolk Southern will file an appeal.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"FELA lawyer\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/\" target=\"_blank\">FELA Lawyer<\/a> News Blog is a FELA, train accident and personal injury blog that publishes up to date train accidents and FELA legal news from across the United States. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/CM\/Custom\/FELA-Basics.shtml\" target=\"_blank\">The Federal Employers &#8216;Liability Act, (FELA)<\/a> allows injured railroad workers to recover compensation based on the negligence of the railroad company, in lieu of workers&#8217; compensation. FELA defines negligence as the railroad company&#8217;s failure to use reasonable care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>GREENSBORO, N.C. &#8211; Norfolk Southern Railway has been ordered by The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to pay a former employee who was terminated after he reported an on-the-job injury in 2009.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,12,93,14,29,3,84],"tags":[111],"class_list":["post-3300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fela-law","category-norfolk-southern-railroad","category-north-carolina-railroad-news","category-railroad-lawsuits","category-railroad-legal-news","category-railroad-worker-injuries","category-railroad-workers","tag-north-carolina-fela-lawyer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3300"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5680,"href":"https:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3300\/revisions\/5680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}