California State Legislative Board v. Department of Transportation

We must decide whether the Federal Railroad Administration may exclude hotels and motels from regulation under the Hours of Service law for railroad operating employees.

I

The Union Pacific Railroad Company rents rooms in Portola, California, for some of its operating employees, at the Sierra Motel, which provides lodgings to the public.

' In August of 2002, an official of the United Transportation Union (“the Union”), representing such employees, complained' to the Federal Railroad Administration (“FRA”), asserting that the Sierra Motel had unsafe wiring and,-because it lacked wall insulation and double-paned windows, allowed in too much noise from logging trucks and other traffic on the adjacent highway. The Union alleged that such conditions violated the Hours of Service law, which regulates railroaders’ work and mandatory off-duty time.

A regional administrator for the FRA declined to address the complaint on the grounds that the law did not apply to public lodging secured in an arms-length transaction. The Union appealed within the agency, but the decision was upheld. The Union petitions for judicial review and we have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 2342…