Jury awards deaf truck driver applicant $36 million in disability discrimination case
Jury awards deaf truck driver applicant $36 million in disability discrimination case
The U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced that an eight-person jury awarded a deaf truck driver applicant over $36 million in a disability discrimination case.
The deaf man’s name is Victor Robinson and the trucking companies are Werner Enterprises, Inc. and Drivers Management, LLC.
There was a four-day trial and the jury awarded Robinson $75,000 in compensatory damages and $36,000,000 in punitive damages after finding that there were violations of the ADA. The jury deliberated for less than two hours.
The EEOC explained that the companies failed to hire and failed to accommodate Robinson for a truck driving job in 2016. Robinson applied for a job with Werner after he completed training at a Werner-owned driving school and obtained his commercial driver’s license (CDL). Robinson also got the FMCSA exemption from the hearing regulation for operating a commercial motor vehicle.
Despite having these qualifications, Werner told Robinson that they wouldn’t hire him because he couldn’t hear.
Robinson’s attorneys said “Werner’s refusal to acknowledge Mr. Robinson’s abilities hurt not only him, but the entire Deaf community.”
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An article in Freightwaves.com about the case said Werner argued that Robinson was not hired because he was an inexperienced truck driver and that the company has hired deaf drivers with at least six months of experience. Werner also said there are caps on punitive and compensatory damages that limit the payout to $300,000 and is considering appealing the jury’s decision.
The EEOC said the verdict demonstrates that companies like Werner, when they deny reasonable accommodations to drivers with disabilities, they do so at their peril.