(a) Under 49 U.S.C. 20106, issuance of the regulations in this part preempts any State law, regulation, or order covering the same subject matter, except an additional or more stringent law, regulation, or order that is necessary to eliminate or reduce an essentially local safety hazard; is not incompatible with a law, regulation, or order of the United States Government; and does not impose an unreasonable burden on interstate commerce.

(b) FRA does not intend by issuance of these regulations to preempt provisions of State criminal law that impose sanctions for reckless conduct that leads to actual loss of life, injury, or damage to property, whether such provisions apply specifically to railroad employees or generally to the public at large.

(c) FRA does not intend, by use of the term locomotive engineer in this part, to preempt or otherwise alter the terms, conditions, or interpretation of existing collective bargaining agreements that employ other job classification titles when identifying persons authorized by a railroad to operate a locomotive.

(d) FRA does not intend by issuance of these regulations to preempt or otherwise alter the authority of a railroad to initiate disciplinary sanctions against its employees, including managers and supervisors, in the normal and customary manner, including those contained in its collective bargaining agreements.

(e) Nothing in this part shall be construed to create or prohibit an eligibility or entitlement to employment in other service for the railroad as a result of denial, suspension, or revocation of certification under this part.

(f) Nothing in this part shall be deemed to abridge any additional procedural rights or remedies not inconsistent with this part that are available to the employee under a collective bargaining agreement, the Railway Labor Act, or (with respect to employment at will) at common law with respect to removal from service or other adverse action taken as a consequence of this part.

[56 FR 28254, June 19, 1991, as amended at 58 FR 19002, Apr. 9, 1993; 64 FR 60988, Nov. 8, 1999]