Acting through its report on the 1991 Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, the House Appropriations Committee requested a comprehensive analysis of the Federal Employers' Liability Act of 1908 (FELA). FELA prescribes a tort-based compensation process for injured railroad workers that has been a long-time source of controversy within the railroad industry. In response to this request, the Transportation Research Board, with partial funding support from the Federal Transit Administration and the Federal Railroad Administration, established a committee of 15 experts to assess the injury compensation system that has evolved under FELA and compare it with the no-fault compensation systems that cover most U.S. workers. The committee addressed the chief points of contention between supporters and opponents of FELA, including the level and cost of benefits, the administrative costs and delays in providing compensation, the amount of litigation and legal costs, the effect on employee relations, and FELA's safety incentives. The resulting report describes the operation of injury compensation under both FELA and workers' compensation systems and details the committee's findings and conclusions regarding both approaches. In accordance with its charge from the National Research Council, the study committee limited its analysis to technical matters and did not recommend any specific changes in federal policy. The report is organised as follows: Executive Summary; (1) Introduction; (2) Overall Context for Compensation of Injured Workers; (3) Criteria for Analysis of Compensation of Injured Workers; (4) Railroad Injury Compensation Process; (5) State and Federal Workers' Compensation Programs; (6) Comparison of FELA Process and Workers' Compensation Systems; (7) Modal Competition and Federal Appropriations; (8) Findings and Conclusions; Appendix A: Railroad Safety; Appendix B: Terminology; and Study Committee Biographical Information. (A)
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