Jurisdictional Problems Between Washington's Workmen's Compensation Act and Federal Law

In this comment, the principal concern will be with the conflict between the federal law and the state act in respect to the railway worker and the shoreline worker whose activity takes him upon navigable waters of the United States. It is in these areas that the confusion as to jurisdictional matters becomes the most difficult to resolve. The applicable federal statutes are the Federal Employers' Liability Act covering railroad employees, and the Longshoremen and Harbor Worker's Act covering shoreline employees. The discussion in this paper will be devoted to ascertaining the extent of federal pre-emption and the area left in which the Washington Compensation Act may be applied.