Opus Group LLC

It usually takes a catastrophe to stir into action those in charge and responsible for public safety. So it is in the wake of the train collision between a Southern Pacific freight train and a Metrolink commuter train on September 12, 2008 in Chatsworth, California. Twenty five people were killed and over 100 seriously injured when the passenger car was crushed and thrown off the tracks during the early evening northbound. Among the dead-at-the-scene was the Metrolink engineer, 46-year old Robert Sanchez.

The investigation headed by the NTSB found evidence that Mr. Sanchez was “texting” – sending text messages – to two teenagers a very short time before the collision with the southbound freight train. The inference drawn from this fact alone is that Mr. Sanchez was paying attention to the keystrokes on his PDA instead of watching for the safety signals placed along the rails that would have alerted him that the Southern Pacific was heading toward it on the same single track.

Employers are regularly sued by disaffected employees claiming to be the target of racial discrimination or sexual harassment by supervisors or coworkers. The allegations usually allege that the employer failed to

• institute a clear and comprehensive anti-harassment policy
• disseminate the anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policy to employees
• establish a complaint procedure
• conduct a prompt, thorough and unbiased investigation
• provide remedial action and protection for the victim
• impose meaningful and appropriate discipline on the violator

In the recently decided case (D.M. v. Walgreen Pharmacy, Inc.) the court examined these allegations and affirmed the (more…)