In a case of first impression, a federal judge has applied FRSA subsection (c)(2)’s exception to the prohibition against railroads disciplining employees for following the orders of a treating physician. Stapleton v. Union Pac. R.R. Co.
The exception to (c)(2) is:
a railroad carrier’s refusal to permit an employee to return to work following medical treatment shall not be considered a violation of this section if the refusal is pursuant to Federal Railroad Administration medical standards for fitness for duty or, if there are no pertinent FRA standards, a carrier’s medical standards for fitness for duty.
Kelly Stapleton was a locomotive engineer who reported an injury for which he received medical treatment. When his treating doctor OK’d him to return to work, the Railroad’s Medical Department refused to allow him to do so.
Turns out that four years before, the Railroad had added “treatment with anti-seizure medication to prevent seizures” to its list of medically disqualifying conditions. Separate from his work injury, Stapleton had been diagnosed with epilepsy and was being treated with anti-seizure medication. So when his return to work exam revealed that, the Railroad refused to allow him to continue operating locomotives.
Stapleton sued under the FRSA claiming the refusal was in retaliation for his reporting of an injury. But the federal judge found (c)(2)’s Safe Harbor “exempts railroads from retaliation claims” for refusing to allow an employee to return to work pursuant to the railroad’s “medical standards for fitness for duty.”
Here is the full text of Stapleton v. Union Pac. R.R. Co. For more information on the rights of railroad whistleblowers, go to the free Rail Whistleblower Library.