Rhode Island § 39-6-30 - Railroad Companies

§ 39-6-30. Protection of railroad employees.

As a condition of his or her approval of any abandonment of railroad facilities, not including a relocation by a carrier or carriers by railroad subject to the provisions of this title, the public utilities administrator shall require a fair and equitable arrangement to protect the interest of the railroad employees adversely affected who are not protected by a collective bargaining agreement in such an event, and he or she shall include in his or her orders of approval such terms and conditions for the protection of the employees as he or she deems to be fair and equitable and to be substantially equivalent to those then generally imposed by the Interstate Commerce Commission in abandonment proceedings brought before the commission; provided, however, that the conditions shall provide, as a minimum, that during the period of four (4) years from the effective date of the order, the transaction will not result in employees of the carrier or carriers by railroad affected by the order being in a worse position with respect to their employment, except that the protection afforded to any employee pursuant to this section shall not be required to continue for a longer period following the effective date of the order than the period during which the employee was in the employ of the carrier or carriers prior to the effective date of the order; and, provided further, that, notwithstanding any other provisions of this section, the public utilities administrator may accept, as a fair and equitable arrangement for the protection of railroad employees affected by any order of the public utilities administrator issued under this section, an agreement pertaining to the protection of the interest of employees entered into by any carrier or carriers by railroad and the duly authorized representative or representatives of its or their employees.