(a) General duty.

(1) Each passenger rail operation required to establish a system safety program under this part shall in good faith consult with, and use its best efforts to reach agreement with, all of its directly affected employees, including any non-profit labor organization representing a class or craft of directly affected employees, on the contents of the SSP plan.

(2) A passenger rail operation that consults with a non-profit employee labor organization as required by paragraph (a)(1) of this section is considered to have consulted with the directly affected employees represented by that organization. For directly affected employees represented by a non-profit employee labor organization, the primary point of contact shall be either the general chairperson of that non-profit employee labor organization or a non-profit employee labor organization primary point of contact the passenger rail operation and the non-profit employee labor organization agree on at the beginning of the consultation process. If a passenger rail operation contracts out significant portions of its operations, the contractor and the contractor's employees performing those operations shall be considered directly affected employees for the purposes of this part.

(3) A passenger rail operation shall have a preliminary meeting with its directly affected employees to discuss how the consultation process will proceed. A passenger rail operation is not required to discuss the substance of an SSP plan during this preliminary meeting. A passenger rail operation must:

(i) Hold the preliminary meeting no later than July 2, 2020;

(ii) Notify the directly affected employees of the preliminary meeting no less than 60 days before it is held.

(4) Appendix B to this part contains non-mandatory guidance on how a passenger rail operation may comply with the requirements of this section.

(b) Consultation statements. A passenger rail operation required to submit an SSP plan under §270.201 must also submit, together with the plan, a consultation statement that includes the following information:

(1) A detailed description of the process utilized to consult with directly affected employees;

(2) If the passenger rail operation could not reach agreement with its directly affected employees on the contents of its SSP plan, identification of any known areas of disagreement and an explanation of why it believes agreement was not reached; and

(3) A service list containing the name and contact information for either each international/national president and general chairperson of any non-profit employee labor organization representing a class or craft of the passenger rail operation's directly affected employees, or each non-profit employee labor organization primary point of contact the passenger rail operation and the non-profit employee labor organization agree on at the beginning of the consultation process. The service list must also contain the name and contact information for any directly affected employee who significantly participated in the consultation process independently of a non-profit employee labor organization. When a passenger rail operation submits its SSP plan and consultation statement to FRA pursuant to §270.201, it must also simultaneously send a copy of these documents to all individuals identified in the service list.

(c) Statements from directly affected employees.

(1) If a passenger rail operation and its directly affected employees cannot reach agreement on the proposed contents of an SSP plan, the directly affected employees may file a statement with the FRA Associate Administrator for Railroad Safety and Chief Safety Officer explaining their views on the plan on which agreement was not reached with the FRA Associate Administrator for Railroad Safety and Chief Safety Officer at Mail Stop 25, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590. The FRA Associate Administrator for Railroad Safety and Chief Safety Officer shall consider any such views during the plan review and approval process.

(2) A passenger rail operation's directly affected employees have 30 days following the date of the submission of a proposed SSP plan to submit the statement described in paragraph (c)(1) of this section.

(d) Consultation requirements for system safety program plan amendments. A passenger rail operation's SSP plan must include a description of the process the passenger rail operation will use to consult with its directly affected employees on any subsequent substantive amendments to the system safety program. The requirements of this paragraph do not apply to non-substantive amendments (e.g., amendments that update names and addresses of railroad personnel).

[85 FR 12847, Mar. 4, 2020]