How is a FELA case different from a workers' compensation claim?

What the Law Says

The Federal Employers Liability Act (FELA) creates a unique legal framework for railroad workers injured on the job — one that differs fundamentally from state-based workers’ compensation systems.

FELA applies exclusively to employees of common carriers by railroad engaged in interstate or foreign commerce. It replaces the traditional no-fault workers’ compensation model with a negligence-based system: injured workers must prove their employer’s negligence contributed in any way to the injury.

Unlike workers’ compensation, FELA does not provide automatic benefits. Instead, it permits injured workers to file lawsuits in federal or state court, seek a jury trial, and recover full damages — including past and future lost wages, medical expenses, pain and suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life.

Importantly, FELA imposes liability even if the employer’s negligence was only slight — as long as it played any part, however small, in bringing about the injury.

Statutory Text

Every common carrier by railroad while engaging in commerce between any of the several States or Territories, or between any of said States and Territories, or between the United States and any other country, shall be liable in damages to any person suffering injury while he is employed by such carrier in such commerce, for such injury or death resulting in whole or in part from the negligence of any of the officers, agents, or employees of such carrier, or by reason of any defect or insufficiency, due to its negligence, in its cars, engines, appliances, machinery, track, roadbed, works, boats, wharves, or other equipment.

— 45 U.S.C. § 51 — Liability of common carriers by railroad...

What to Do

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