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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Amtrak office worker says low staffing caused workplace injury

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A former employee at Amtrak's Wilmington, Del., office holds the railroad company liable for severe shoulder injuries he sustained while moving a filing cabinet, according to a personal injury suit field at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Daniel McFadden, of Wilmington, Del., seeks punitive and compensatory damages of $150,000 or less from Amtrak, saying his former employer acted negligently by not providing him with a safe workplace, violating the Federal Employers' Liability Act.

According to the complaint, McFadden was working out of the Wilmington office on Oct. 5, 2011, when he and a co-worker attempted to move a filing cabinet into another room. The action caused McFadden, who worked for Amtrak for 31 and-a-half years as a senior officer in Revenue Remittance, to experience a tear in his rotator cuff and debilitating pain in his shoulder.

McFadden, who retired from Amtrak in December 2011, says that the company had the responsibility to provide him with employees that could  handle the moving of office furniture without risk of bodily injury.

"The defendant has a duty to provide a sufficient number of employees to perform assigned work without unnecessary risk of injury to himself," the complaint says. "Its failure to provide adequate assistance can be a breach of its duty to provide a safe place for the Plaintiff to work."

The complaint says that McFadden specifically experienced a partial rotator cuff tear, tendinitis and ostearthritis as a result of the injury. He has been forced to undergo medical treatment, including injections to rehabilitate the shoulder. The continued recovery has taken a toll on McFadden's checkbook as he continues to fund the health care expenses while retired, he claims.

The plaintiff is represented by Jason Lomax, esq.

The federal case ID is 2:14-cv-05522-ER.

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