Source: http://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/part-228/appendix-A
Timestamp: 2014-12-22 21:49:24
Document Index: 17311017

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 228', 'art 228', 'art 228', 'art 228', 'art 228', 'art 209']

49 CFR Part 228, Appendix A to Part 228 - Requirements of the Hours of Service Act: Statement of Agency Policy and Interpretation | LII / Legal Information Institute
CFR › Title 49 › Subtitle B › Chapter II › Part 228 › Appendix A 49 CFR Part 228, Appendix A to Part 228 - Requirements of the Hours of Service Act: Statement of Agency Policy and Interpretation
Pt. 228, App. A
Employee A receives an assignment from an “extra board” located at his home terminal to protect a job one hour's drive from the home terminal. In lieu of transporting the employee by carrier conveyance, the railroad pays the employee a fixed amount to provide his own transportation to and from the outlying point. The employee is permitted to go directly from his home to the outlying point, a drive which takes 40 minutes. The normal driving time between his regular reporting point at his home terminal and the outlying point is 60 minutes. The actual driving time, 40 minutes is considered deadhead time and is counted as time on duty under the Act.
The crew of a wreck train is dispatched to clear the site of a derailment which has just occurred on a main line. The wreck crew re-rails or clears the last car and the maintenance of way department releases the track to the operating department 14 hours and 30 minutes into the duty tour. Since the line is not clear until the wreck train is itself out of the way, the crew may operate the wreck train to its terminal, provided this can be accomplished within the total of 16 hours on duty.
7 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. 1:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. (Schedule for one employee including one hour lunch period)
7 a.m. to 3 p.m. 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Two employees scheduled)
7 a.m. to 3 p.m. 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Two employees scheduled)
Casualties, Unavoidable Accidents, Acts of God.Section 5(d) of the Act states the following: “The provisions of this Act shall not apply in any case of casualty or unavoidable accident or the Act of God; nor where the delay was the result of a cause not known to the carrier or its officer or agent in charge of the employee at the time said employee left a terminal, and which could not have been foreseen.” This passage is commonly referred to as the “emergency provision”. Judicial construction of this sentence has limited the relief which it grants to situations which are truly unusual and exceptional. The courts have recognized that delays and operational difficulties are common in the industry and must be regarded as entirely foreseeable; otherwise, the Act will provide no protection whatsoever. Common operational difficulties which do not provide relief from the Act include, but are not limited to, broken draw bars, locomotive malfunctions, equipment failures, brake system failures, hot boxes, unexpected switching, doubling hills and meeting trains. Nor does the need to clear a main line or cut a crossing justify disregard of the limitations of the Act. Such contingencies must normally be anticipated and met within the 12 hours. Even where an extraordinary event or combination of events occurs which, by itself, would be sufficient to permit excess service, the carrier must still employ due diligence to avoid or limit such excess service. The burden of proof rests with the carrier to establish that excess service could not have been avoided.
Penalty. As amended by the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 1988 and the Rail Safety Enforcement and Review Act of 1992, the penalty provisions of the law apply to any person (an entity of any type covered under 1 U.S.C. 1, including but not limited to the following: a railroad; a manager, supervisor, official, or other employee or agent of a railroad; any owner, manufacturer, lessor, or lessee of railroad equipment, track, or facilities; any independent contractor providing goods or services to a railroad; and any employee of such owner, manufacturer, lessor, lessee, or independent contractor), except that a penalty may be assessed against an individual only for a willful violation. See appendix A to 49 CFR part 209. For violations that occurred on September 3, 1992, a person who violates the Act is liable for a civil penalty, as the Secretary of Transportation deems reasonable, in an amount not less than $500 nor more than $11,000, except that where a grossly negligent violation or a pattern of repeated violations has created an imminent hazard of death or injury to persons, or has caused death or injury, a penalty not to exceed $22,000 may be assessed. The Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 as amended by the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 required agencies to increase the maximum civil monetary penalty for inflation. The amounts increased from $10,000 to $11,000 and from $20,000 to $22,000 respectively. According to the same law, in 2004, the minimum penalty of $500 was raised to $550, and the maximum penalty for a grossly negligent violation or a pattern of repeated violations that has caused an imminent hazard of death or injury to individuals or has caused death or injury, was increased from $22,000 to $27,000. The $11,000 maximum penalty was not adjusted. Effective October 9, 2007, the ordinary maximum penalty of $11,000 was raised to $16,000 as required under law. Effective March 2, 2009, the minimum penalty, ordinary maximum penalty and aggravated maximum penalty were raised again. The minimum penalty was increased from $550 to $650 pursuant to the law's requirement. Meanwhile, the ordinary maximum penalty was increased from $16,000 to $25,000 and the aggravated maximum was increased from $27,000 to $100,000 in accordance with the authority provided under the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008. Meanwhile, the ordinary maximum penalty was increased from $16,000 to $25,000 and the aggravated maximum was increased from $27,000 to $100,000 in accordance with the authority provided under the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008. See sec. 302, Div. A, Public Law 110-432, 122 Stat. 4848, 4878, Oct. 16, 2008; 49 U.S.C. 21301-21303. Effective June 25, 2012, the aggravated maximum penalty was raised from $100,000 to $105,000 pursuant to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990. Public Law 101-410, 104 Stat. 890, 28 U.S.C. 2461, note, as amended by Sec. 31001(s)(1) of the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996, Public Law 104-134, 110 Stat. 1321-373, Apr. 16, 1996.
[42 FR 27596, May 31, 1977, as amended at 43 FR 30804, July 18, 1978; 53 FR 28601, July 28, 1988; 55 FR 30893, July 27, 1990; 58 FR 18165, Apr. 8, 1993; 61 FR 20495, May 7, 1996; 63 FR 11622, Mar. 10, 1998; 69 FR 30594, May 28, 2004; 72 FR 51197, Sept. 6, 2007; 73 FR 79703, Dec. 30, 2008; 76 FR 67092, Oct. 31, 2011; 77 FR 24421, Apr. 24, 2012]