(2) No action may be brought under this section after the expiration of the two-year period beginning on the date the violation occurred unless administrative notification pursuant to the Federal Claims Collection Act (31 U.S.C. 951-953) has been provided to the common carrier within such two-year period, but in no event may any such action be brought after the expiration of the period specified in section 2462 of title 28, United States Code. (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 agent 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 Transportation may after full hearing in any particular case and for good cause shown exempt any such railroad subject to this Act with respect 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 annually. In no event shall any such exemption be made for any railroad 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. FEDERAL EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY ACT (as amended through 1980) AN ACT Relating to the liability of common carriers by railroad to their employees in certain cases. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SEC. 1. That every common carrier by railroad while engaging in commerce between any of the several States or Territories, or between any of the States and Territories, or between the District of Columbia and any of the States or Territories and any foreign nation or nations, shall be liable in damages to any person suffering injury while he is employed by such carrier in such commerce, or, in case of the death of such employee, to his or her personal representative, for the benefit of the surviving widow or husband and children of such employee and, if none, then of such employee's parents; and, if none, then of the next of kin dependent upon such employee, for such injury or death resulting in whole or in part from the negligence of any of the officers, agents, or employees of such carrier, or by reason of any defect or insufficiency, due to its negligence, in its cars, engines, appliances, machinery, track, roadbed, works, boats, wharves, or other equipment. Any employee of a carrier, any part of whose duties as such employee shall be the furtherance of interstate or foreign commerce; or shall, in any way directly or closely and substantially, affect such commerce as above set forth shall, for the purposes of this Act, be considered as being employed by such carrier in such commerce and shall be considered as entitled to the benefits of this Act and of an Act entitled "An Act relating to the liability of common carriers by railroads to their employees in certain cases" (approved April 22, 1908), as the same has been or may hereafter be amended. SEC. 2. That every common carrier by railroad in the Territories, the District of Columbia, the Panama Canal Zone, or other possessions of the United States shall be liable in damages to any person suffering injury while he is employed by such carrier in any of said jurisdictions, or, in case of the death of such employee, to his or her personal representative, for the benefit of the surviving widow or husband and children of such employee; and, if none, then of such employee's parents; and, if none then of the next of kin dependent upon such employee, for such injury or death resulting in whole or in part from the negligence of any of the officers, agents, or employees of such carrier, or by reason of any defect or insufficiency, due to its negligence in its cars, engines, appliances, machinery, track, roadbed, works, boats, wharves or other equipment. SEC. 3. That in all actions hereafter brought against any such common carrier by railroad under or by virtue of any of the provisions of this Act to recover damages for personal injuries to an employee or where such injuries have resulted in his death, the fact that the employee may have been guilty of contributory negligence shall not bar a recovery, but the damages shall be diminished by |