Federal law comparable to state workers compensation statutes setting out liability of railroads for work-related injuries or death of their employees. Railroad employees are not covered by workers compensation laws. Under normal tort law, the injured party must prove he or she did nothing to contribute to the negligence or the risk. But under the terms of the federal act, railroad employees must only show that negligence on the part of the employer contributed to the injury. Therefore, this law gives railroads responsibility for on-the-job injuries to employees. But the railroads are not protected by the theory that workers compensation should be the only responsibility of employers for their employees, or by the prescribed schedule of benefits.
Federal Employers Liability Act
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The Federal Employers Liability Act (FELA), 5645 U.S.C. ยง 51 et seq. (1908) is a United States federal law that protects and compensates railroaders injured on the job. [1]
Background
In the years between 1889 and 1920, railroad use in the United States expanded sixfold. With this expansion, the dangers to the railroad worker increased.
President Benjamin Harrison addressed these dangers in a speech to the United States Congress in 1889, in which he compared the plight of the railroad worker to a soldier at war: "It is a reproach to our civilization that any class of American workmen, should in the pursuit of a necessary and useful vocation, be subjected to a peril of life and limb as great as that of a soldier in time of war."[2]
In discussing the need for legislation to address the railroad worker's exposure to harm, U.S. Representative Henry D. Flood, a strong advocate for the passage of the FELA, referred to alarming statistics about the injuries and deaths associated with work on the railroad. 40 Congressional Record (1906).
To curb these dangers, Congress relied upon the experience of certain states which had already passed legislation similar to the FELA to support the proposition that the FELA would lead to increased safety on the railroad. Flood, in urging the U.S. House of Representatives to "follow the lead of those enlightened and progressive states." 490 Cong. Rec. 4607 (1906).
The FELA Act enacted in 1906 was declared unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court. The 1908 legislation, however, withstood tests.[3][4][5]
References
- ^ Walgren, John A. (1916). Federal Employers' Liability Act: practitioner's manual. T.H. Flood. http://books.google.com/books?id=uTUXAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA9. Retrieved 14 Sep 2009.
- ^ RAILROAD WORKER INJU5RIES -- THE FEDERAL EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY ACT (FELA)
- ^ The Federal Employers Liability Law of 1906
- ^ The Federal Employers Liability Law of 1908
- ^ Risk, Disability, and Citizenship: U. S. Railroaders and the Federal Employers' Liability Act
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