CSX Beats Ex-Worker’s Retaliation Suit Over Working in Storm

A former train operator lost his bid to revive a lawsuit accusing CSX Transportation, Inc of firing him for refusing to work during a lightning storm.

Jeremy Hitt failed to sufficiently provide evidence that his refusal to work during a lightning storm was the contributing factor to his termination, said Judge Andrew L. Brasher of the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Hitt didn’t establish the element of causation required by the Federal Railroad Safety Act—which protects railroad employees from retaliation as it relates to safety-related whistleblowing—Brasher concluded.

CSX terminated Hitt, a remote control operator, after he received ...