If you get hurt in a train yard in Kentucky can a lawyer in New York represent you? He sure can. And in fact, the best lawyer for a rail worker’s injury is likely out-of-state.
If you get hurt in a train yard in Kentucky can a lawyer in New York represent you? He sure can. And in fact, the best lawyer for a rail worker’s injury is likely out-of-state.
Topics: Checklist for hiring railroad lawyer, Basic steps to filing a fela lawsuit, whistleblower, FELA v Workers' Comp, FELA recovery, FELA injury
It isn’t like we haven’t all heard from our elders how we need more sleep. And our significant others have politely tried to tell us how haggard we look. We have noticed our short tempers, faulty memory and absent-mindedness when tired. The truth is poor sleep habits are the norm today. But on the railroad it isn’t just making people cranky, it’s setting the table for dangerous work habits.
Topics: Railroad safety issues, whistleblower, reporting safety concerns
You’ve heard me say that every case is unique, but there are some very common (and legitimate questions) that my office fields from clients and prospective clients every week. Railroad workers, some with FELA cases and others who are whistleblowers, have questions about forms, doctors, court appearances, and most of all, why it’s all taking so long.
Topics: FAQs on the job injuries, Basic steps to filing a fela lawsuit, whistleblower, FELA injury
Railroad work is dangerous: heavy machinery, chemical exposure, 150-ton speeding locomotives. Whether you’ve spent your career working on high voltage wires or maintaining signals or track area, you may have taken on more than your fair share of danger and injury, just shrugging it off as part of the job.
In actuality, it may be that it was the railroad itself that shrugged off your safety. Often workers are put in dangerous situations that they should be safe from, and very often when workers report those unsafe conditions they find themselves slapped with a letter of reprimand, told to keep quiet about an injury or worse.
Here are 10 examples of situations where a worker has a legit whistleblower claim against the railroad.
Topics: FAQs on the job injuries, Rights of Railroad workers, Railroad safety issues, whistleblower
If you’ve been penalized for reporting an on-the-job injury or safety hazard you are covered by the whistleblower amendments to the Federal Railroad Safety Act.
Topics: Railroad safety issues, whistleblower
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals, reversed the ARB decision, which protected a workers right to follow doctors's orders. This was one of the 13 ways of triggering the Whistleblower protections of the Federal Railroad Safety Act (FRSA). You can download the decision here.
Bala vs PATH was the 2013 decision that prevented a carrier from disciplining an employee who was following doctors orders, regardless of whether the underlying condition was work related or not.
The reversal means that in those courts within the Third Circuit, only a doctor note pertaining to an on the job injury gives protection to the employee.
Concussion at home when something falls from the garage shelf, making you dizzy? Not excused.
Stomach bug has you throwing up? Not excused.
These absences can still be counted for purposes of attendance policies. This means that workers can be disciplined for absences when they follow a doctor's order not to return to work. This will have long term ramifications as well as immediate.
Topics: FAQs on the job injuries, Rights of Railroad workers, whistleblower, reporting safety concerns, how much is my case worth?
How long do I have to file my case? Am I too late to file a claim with OSHA? Does my initial charge letter and the denial of my appeal give me different filing dates?
Every week I get these questions from railroad workers looking to sue their carrier. So here are not only the answers, but also a calculator so you can figure it out for yourself.
First, your injury claim must be filed within three years of when you knew or should have known that you had a work-related injury. In most instances, that means the date you got hurt. But there are other times where the beginning date might get fuzzy.
Topics: FAQs on the job injuries, Checklist for hiring railroad lawyer, Basic steps to filing a fela lawsuit, whistleblower, how to file your own injury claim, FELA injury
Next to “How much is my case worth?” questions about the timing and duration of lawsuits are the ones I hear most often from railroad workers.
Timing is critical to lawsuits. If they’re going to protect their rights, workers need to know the window in which they have to report an injury, file an FELA suit or file a whistleblower claim.
This blog will answer those questions along with tougher, more, it-depends-on-your-situation queries like, “When will I get paid?” and “How long will my trial last?”
Read on for 10 answers to the most often asked timing-related questions about FELA injury and whistleblower claims.
Topics: FAQs on the job injuries, Basic steps to filing a fela lawsuit, whistleblower, FELA recovery, FELA injury
Have you been on the railroad over five years?
Then you are most likely numb. Not from winter weather in early November, but to the railroad safety hazards around you daily. That is both dangerous and avoidable.
Becoming desensitized to the dangers of train work makes you take unnecessary risks. Instead of voicing a concern, and possibly incurring the wrath of a general foreman, you shrug it off as something you've done hundreds of times before without incident. But if nine out of 10 people walk across the thin ice without falling through, and only the last does, does that mean the ice was safe? Of course not. It means the first nine got lucky. And so it is with you.
In this post we'll use photos to highlight common safety hazards workers face everyday.
Topics: Rights of Railroad workers, Railroad safety issues, whistleblower, reporting safety concerns
Should I tell my lawyer?
The attorney-client relationship is a special one. Your railroad attorney is one of those people who needs to know your dark secrets and embarrassing history. (Like a doctor, your lawyer is required to keep it private.) Only by knowing what can be used against you, can your lawyer protect against the bias that such information can bring with it.
For example, I've had the railroad try and smear my client at trial by asking irrelevant questions about a DUI conviction from years before the accident. Because my client had already told me the details, I was able to show the jury just how ridiculous it was for the railroad to be bringing it up a trial.
In this post I’ll give you two examples of how being open and honest with me helped some of my past clients succeed in court, and one example where what the client kept from me meant a lawsuit doomed from the start.
Topics: FAQs on the job injuries, Basic steps to filing a fela lawsuit, whistleblower, FELA injury
Railroad lawyer Marc Wietzke focuses on FELA injury and whistleblower law for railroad workers injured or punished on the job.
ATTORNEY ADVERTISING - Prior results don’t guarantee a similar outcome in your claim. This website and blog are for informational purposes and do not constitute legal advice, since only after knowing the details of your claim can any advice be provided. Please understand that particular laws vary by state. You must speak directly with an attorney about your situation to determine what laws apply.