Union Pacific cancer lawsuits for workers

More than 30 people who used to work for Union Pacific have taken the railroad to court over what they were exposed to at the Roseville, California yard. They say decades of work at that yard left them with long-term lung illness and with cancers of the bladder, kidney, and lung that are linked to silica. Their lawyer said the yard was like a "toxic soup," naming silica, diesel exhaust, and fumes.

The lawsuits say the railroad was aware of the danger as early as the 1950s. Every one of these cases is brought under FELA, the same federal law that covers you if you worked for Union Pacific.

Union Pacific employs over 30,000 people on track in 23 states. Its crews once ran three Metra commuter routes in the Chicago area, a job that shifted to Metra in 2024, though Union Pacific still owns and keeps up that track.

FELA applies to employees injured while working for a railroad that hauls freight or passengers across state lines. When a worker has passed away, the claim goes to the personal representative, who brings it for the surviving spouse and children.

Most people in this country have no-fault workers' compensation, but railroad employees do not. Their path is different: they seek payment from the railroad itself through FELA. The money can cover doctor and hospital costs, paychecks missed now and down the road, and pain and suffering.

The bar here is easier to clear than in a typical injury case. The railroad's carelessness only has to be one of the causes, even a small one. The Supreme Court has said FELA reaches illnesses that build over time, like silicosis, not just sudden accidents.

Several rules protect the worker:

• Even if you share some of the blame, you can still win, though the award is reduced by your share of the fault.
• You are not assumed to have taken on the job's risks if the railroad's own carelessness helped cause the harm.
• A company rule that tries to keep workers from reporting what happened in an injury has no legal force.

A FELA claim has to be filed within three years. With an illness that creeps up over years, the clock starts when the harm from the exposure first becomes clear, a rule the Supreme Court laid down in 1949.

Putting it off can cost you the claim. One car inspector learned in May 2014 that he had bladder cancer, and his doctor said at the time that it was linked to what he had been breathing on the job. He did not file until April 2019, so the court threw out his claim for the cancer as it stood back in 2014. Call now to have your claim reviewed for free: the three-year deadline is for filing a lawsuit, not making a phone call.

Between 2021 and 2025, Union Pacific sent 1,649 reports of on-duty injuries and illnesses to federal regulators. Only a handful involve illness.

Cancer tends to show up long after the exposure, often not until a worker has already moved on from the railroad. So when no report exists, that alone tells you little about whether the job caused the cancer.

Whether you call or fill out the short form, it goes to a firm that handles FELA cases for railroad workers, and the review costs nothing either way. The person reviewing will ask where you worked and when, what jobs you held, and which yards, shops, or lines you were on. They will want to know the diagnosis and the point when a doctor first connected it to your work.

Your call might be recorded so the firm keeps a correct record of your work history. You do not need every date before you call for your free review.