A trucking company’s refusal to hire a deaf driver violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled last month. In EEOC v. Drivers Management and Werner Enterprises, a panel of the court affirmed a lower court’s decision in favor of the EEOC.
Victor Robinson obtained a variance from federal hearing requirements from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and attended a school where an interpreter assisted with his training. Nevertheless, Werner Enterprises declined to hire him because of his deafness. Robinson won compensatory and punitive damages.
On appeal, Werner argued that Robinson’s inability to engage in contemporaneous communications with his trainer while driving disqualified him. However, the panel said that was just describing deafness “with more words,” not identifying a consequence of it that could arguably lead to disqualification.
The panel also rejected Werner’s argument that accommodating the driver would cause an undue hardship by altering its training program. The court cited a lack of evidence that letting a trainee use nonverbal communication would impact business operations or cause financial burden.