An Act to amend the act entitled ""An Act to promote the safety of employees and travelers upon railroads by limiting the hours of service of employees thereon,"" approved March 4, 1907
PL 91-169 (H.R.8449), enacted 12/26/1969

83 STAT. ] 
PUBLIC LAW 91-169-DEC. 26, 1969 
463 
Public Law 91-169 
AN A C T 
December 26, 1969 
To amend the Act entitled "An Act to promote the safety of employees and 
[H. R. 8449] 
travelers upon railroads by limiting the hours of service of employees 
thereon," approved March 4,1907. 
Be it enacted hy the Semite and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America 
in Congress assembled^ That the Act 
Em^io^ee's' 
entitled ''An Act to promote the safety of employees and travelers hours o
f service, 
upon railroads by limiting the hours of service of employees thereon,'' restrictions. 
approved March 4, 1907 (45 U.S.C. 61, 62, 63, 64), is hereby amended 
34 stat. MIS. 
to read as follows: "That (a) this Act shall apply to any common 
carrier or carriers, their officers, agents, and employees, engaged in 
the transportation of passengers or property by railroad in the Dis-
trict of Columbia or any territory of the United States, or from one 
State or territory of the United States or the District of Columbia to 
any other State or territory of the United States or the District of 
Columbia, or from any place in the United States to an adjacent for-
eign country, or from any place in the United States through a for-
eign country to any other place in the United States, 
"^b) For the purposes of this Act— 
Definitions. 
"(1) The term 'railroad' includes all bridges and ferries used or 
operated in connection with any railroad, and also all the road in use 
by any common carrier operating a railroad, whether owned or 
operated under a contract, agreement, or lease. 
"(2) The term 'employee' means an individual actually engaged 
in or connected with the movement of any train. 
"(3) Time on duty shall commence when an employee reports for 
'^^"^e °" '^^^y-
duty and terminate when the employee is finally released from duty, 
and shall include: 
"(A) Interim periods available for rest at other than a 
designated terminal; 
"(B) Interim periods available for less than four hours rest 
at a designated terminal; 
"(C) Time spent in deadhead transportation by an employee 
to a duty assignment: Provided, 
That time spent in deadhead 
transportation by an employee from duty to his point of final 
release shall not be counted m computing time off duty; 
"(D) The time an employee is actually engaged in or connected 
with the movement of any train; and 
"(E) Such period of time as is otherwise provided by this Act. 
"SEC. 2. (a) It shall be unlawful for any common carrier, its officers 
violations. 
or agents, subject to this Act— 
"(1) to require or permit an employee, in case such employee 
shall have been continuously on duty for fourteen hours, to 
continue on duty or to go on duty until he has had at least ten 
consecutive hours off duty, except that, effective upon the expira-
tion of the two-year period beginning on the effective date of this 
paragraph, such fourteen-hour duty period shall be reduced to 
twelve hours; or 
"(2) to require or permit an employee to continue on duty or 
to go on duty when he has not had at least eight consecutive hours 
off duty during the preceding twenty-four hours. 
x^ 
"(b) In determining,' for the purposes of subsection (a), the num-
ber of hours an employee is on duty, there shall be counted, in addition 
to the time such employee is actually engaged in or connected with the 
movement of any train, all time on duty in other service performed 
for the common carrier during the twenty-four-hour period involved. 
464 
PUBLIC LAW 91-169-DEC. 26, 1969 
[83 STAT. 
Wrecking crews. 
Telegraph 
operators, etc. 
Emergency 
provisions. 
Maximum hours. 
Penalty. 
Statute of 
limitations. 
"(c) The provisions of this Act shall not apply to the crews of 
wreck or relief trains. 
"(d) The provisions of this section shall not apply to an employee 
during such period of time as the provisions of section 3 apply to his 
duty and off-duty periods. 
"SEC. 3. (a) No operator, train dispatcher, or other employee who 
by the use of the telegraph, telephone, radio, or any other electrical 
or mechanical device dispatches, reports, transmits, receives, or delivers 
orders pertaining to or affecting train movements— 
" (1) shall be required or permitted to be or remain on duty for 
more than nine hours, whether consecutive or in the aggregate, 
in any twenty-four-hour period in any tower, office, station, or 
place where two or more shifts are employed; and 
"(2) shall be required or permitted to be or remain on duty 
for more than twelve hours, whether consecutive or in the aggre-
gate, in any twenty-four-hour period in any tower, office, station, 
or place where only one shift is employed. 
"(b) For the purposes of subsection (a), in determining the num-
ber of hours an employee is on duty in a class of service, and at a 
place, described in paragraph (1) or (2) of such subsection, there 
shall be counted, in addition to the time spent by him on duty in such 
service at such place, all time on duty in other service performed for 
the common carrier during the twenty-four-hour period involved. 
"(c) Notwithstanding subsection (a) of this section, in case of 
emergency the employees named in such subsection may be permitted 
to be and remain on duty for four additional hours in any period of 
twenty-four consecutive hours of not exceeding three days in any 
period of seven consecutive days. 
"SEC. 4. The requirements imposed by this Act with respect to time 
on duty of employees are hereby declared to result in the maximum 
permissible hours of service consistent with safety. However, shorter 
hours of service and time on duty of employees for lesser periods of 
time are hereby declared to be proper subjects for collective bargain-
ing between any common carrier subject to this Act and its employees. 
"SEC. 5, (a) Any such common carrier, or any officer or agent 
thereof, requiring or permitting any employee to go, be, or remain on 
duty in violation of section 2 or section 3 of this Act shall be liable to 
a penalty of $500 for each and every violation, to be recovered in a 
suit or suits to be brought by the United States attorney in the district 
court of the United States having jurisdiction in the locality where 
such violations shall have been committed; and it shall be the duty of 
such United States attorney to bring such suit upon satisfactory infor-
mation being lodged with him; but no such suit shall be brought after 
the expiration of two years from the date of such violation. 
"(b) It shall be the duty of the Secretary of Transportation to 
lodge with the appropriate United States attorney information of 
any violation as may come to the knowledge of the Secretary. 
"(c) In all prosecutions under this Act the common carrier shall 
be deemed to have knowledge of all acts of all its officers and agents. 
"(d) 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 a^ent in charge of the employee at the time said employee left a 
terminal, and which could not have been foreseen. 
"(e) With respect to any railroad which employs a total of not 
more than 15 employees covered by this Act^ the Secretary of Trans-
83 STAT. ] 
PUBLIC LAW 91-170-DEC. 29, 1969 
465 
portation may after full hearing in any particular case and for good 
cause shown exempt any such railroad subject to this Act with respect 
Exemption. 
to one or more of its employees from the limitations imposed by this 
Act for a specified period of time, if the Secretary of Transportation 
finds that such exemption is in the public interest and will not 
adversely affect safety. Such order is to be subject to review at least 
Review, 
annually. In no event shall any such exemption be made for any rail-
road described in this section to work its employees beyond 16 hours 
either consecutively or in the aggregate within any 24-hour period. 
"SEC. 6. It shall be the duty of the Secretary of Transportation to 
carry out the provisions of this Act." 
SEC. 2. If any provision of the amendment made by the first section 
separability pro-
of this Act is held invalid, the remainder of such amendment shall not 
be affected thereby. 
SEC. 3. This Act shall take effect one year after the date of its 
Effective date. 
enactment. 
Approved December 26, 1969. 
Public Law 91-170 
AN A C T 
December 29, 1969 
Making appropriations for military construction for the Department of Defense 
[H. R. 14751] 
for the fiscal year ending June 30,1970, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of Ameiiea in Congress assembled^ That the following 
Military con-
sums are appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise priaUon^Acrf^"' 
appropriated, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1970, for military con- 1970. 
struction functions administered by the Department of Defense, and 
for other purposes, namely: 
MILITARY CONSTRUCTION, ARMY 
For acquisition, construction, installation, and equipment of 
temporary or permanent public works, military installations, and 
facilities for the Army as currently authorized in military public