UPS sued over alleged discrimination of deaf driver candidates
Reuters reported that the U.S. Equal Employment Commission (EEOC) sued UPS, accusing the company of discriminating against deaf people by refusing to hire them as drivers.
The EEOC said the Department of Transportation does allow deaf people to drive vehicles more than 10,000 pounds through a program that exempts them from a hearing test.
UPS told Reuters that it is modifying driver training for deaf employees and would start accepting DOT exemptions in January 2024. The UPS said “current regulations do not consider best practices for driving larger commercial vehicles that make frequent stops in residential neighborhoods…”
The case was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. EEOC’s regional attorney in Chicago said, “Just because someone is deaf does not mean they cannot drive safely.”
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This lawsuit comes after the EEOC won a major, $36 million jury verdict against trucking company Werner Enterprises for rejecting a deaf driver’s application after he obtained an exemption from a hearing test to get his commercial driver’s license (CDL).
I’ve personally observed that there is a growing number of deaf people who are driving Amazon delivery vehicles. So it is safe to say that the pressure is on UPS to show why it’s not making it easy for deaf employees to drive their delivery trucks.
https://www.reuters.com/legal/eeoc-sues-ups-disability-discrimination-hiring-2023-09-22/