Richard Singleton’s case against Norfolk Southern was settled for an undisclosed amount after the judge said he had enough evidence to go to trial over whether he was disciplined for reporting safety violations that slowed trains passing through a Macon, Georgia, railyard.
The railroads are working to eliminate such practices with policies prohibiting retaliation and myriad ways for workers fearful of retribution to report safety concerns, either directly to a manager or anonymously through an internal hotline.
Other major railroads, including BNSF, Union Pacific, CPKC, Canadian National and CSX, echoed that sentiment in statements and said they encourage employees to report safety concerns.
Long before Mike Ratigan was fired from CSX in New York last year after refusing to help circumvent federal safety standards or ignore railcar flaws, he said he saw other workers sanctioned.
Dale Gourneau had a reputation as a “tenacious safety advocate” who may have written more “bad order” tags listing defects on railcars than anyone else in the Mandan, North Dakota, railyard where he worked for 18 years.
His widow successfully argued in court that after being berated by managers for flagging too many cars for repairs, Fulk killed himself rather than face a disciplinary hearing and possible firing on trumped-up charges of trying to sabotage a train’s braking system.
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