Federal Employers' Liability Act

The Federal Employers’ Liability Act of 1908 makes interstate railroads liable to employees injured through the carrier’s negligence, replacing common-law defenses like the fellow-servant rule and pure contributory negligence with comparative fault. It remains the exclusive remedy — in place of state workers’ compensation — for covered railroad workers, and more than a century of Supreme Court case law construes its terms. Codified at 45 U.S.C. §§ 51–60.