{"id":3341,"date":"2011-08-25T06:28:53","date_gmt":"2011-08-25T13:28:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/?p=3341"},"modified":"2013-04-03T15:11:39","modified_gmt":"2013-04-03T22:11:39","slug":"osha-orders-bnsf-to-pay-more-than-300k-to-railroad-worker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/3341\/osha-orders-bnsf-to-pay-more-than-300k-to-railroad-worker\/","title":{"rendered":"OSHA Orders BNSF to Pay More Than $300K to Railroad Worker"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. Department of Labor&#8217;s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has ordered BNSF Railway Co. to pay more than $300,000 to an employee.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3345\" title=\"BNSF-Railroad\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/BNSF-Railroad.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/BNSF-Railroad.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/BNSF-Railroad-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The BNSF railroad worker from Washington filed a complaint, claiming that she was suspended without pay for 30 days after she notified the company of a work-related injury, said an agency news release.<\/p>\n<p>The administration investigated and found cause to believe that the railroad company retaliated against the worker, violating the Federal Railroad Safety Act&#8217;s whistleblower protection provisions.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tri-cityherald.com\/2011\/08\/19\/1608707\/feds-tell-bnsf-to-pay-worker.html\" target=\"_blank\">TriCity.com<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The employee, whose name and hometown were not released, reported the injury and was taken to an emergency room. Although BNSF managers went to the hospital and received a report on the injury, the railroad later accused her of not giving them enough information about the injury.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Federal Railroad Safety Act forbids railroad companies from disciplining employees for reporting work-related injuries and illnesses,&#8221; said Dean Ikeda, OSHA&#8217;s regional administrator in Seattle. &#8220;This case sends a clear message that OSHA will not tolerate retaliation against whistleblowers. Employees need to be able to report on-the-job injuries without fear of reprisal.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The $300,000 represents back wages, compensatory damages, attorney&#8217;s fees and punitive damages.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<hr \/>\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>The U.S. Department of Labor&#8217;s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has ordered BNSF Railway Co. to pay more than $300,000 to an employee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,5,14,29,3,84,185],"tags":[4,191],"class_list":["post-3341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bnsf-railroad","category-fela-law","category-railroad-lawsuits","category-railroad-legal-news","category-railroad-worker-injuries","category-railroad-workers","category-washington-railroad-news","tag-fela-lawyer","tag-washington-fela-lawyer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3341","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=3341"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5676,"href":"https:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3341\/revisions\/5676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}