Court: UPS wrong to bar deaf delivery drivers

Professur

Professur

Well-Known Member
Company says its policy is 'a bedrock safety issue'

By DAVE HIRSCHMAN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 10/10/06

UPS violated anti-discrimination laws by barring deaf and hearing-impaired workers from driving delivery trucks, a federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled Tuesday.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling that the world's largest delivery firm violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by prohibiting deaf and hearing-impaired workers from becoming UPS drivers.

UPS officials said late Tuesday they are considering an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"We believe this case is about safety," said Norman Black, a UPS spokesman. "It has nothing to do with disability or discrimination."

UPS requires all its drivers to meet Department of Transportation standards for commercial licenses that include vision and hearing tests. Those requirements apply to vehicles weighing 10,000 pounds or more — but the court ruled UPS should allow deaf and hearing-impaired workers to drive lighter vehicles.

UPS officials said the vast majority of vehicles in their 90,000-vehicle ground fleet weigh more than 10,000 pounds.

"We have no idea how much it would cost to comply with this ruling," Black said. "But this is a bedrock safety issue for us. We want to apply the highest uniform safety standards."

The class-action case covers about 1,000 would-be drivers now performing other jobs for UPS.

"While UPS offered anecdotal testimony involving situations where a driver avoided an accident because he or she heard a warning sound, the company . . . failed to show that those accidents would not also have been avoided by a deaf driver who was compensated for his or her loss of hearing by, for example, adapting modified driving techniques or using compensatory devices such as backing cameras or additional mirrors." Judge Marsha Berzon wrote for a three-judge panel.

Disability Rights Advocates represented current or former UPS employees passed over for driving jobs.

"We are obviously ecstatic over the ruling," said Todd Schneider, a lawyer who worked with the Berkeley, Calif., plaintiffs' group. "Each deaf person has to be assessed individually to make a determination, just like a hearing person, as to whether they can safely drive a UPS truck. That's all we ever asked."

Unless it is appealed, the ruling resolves the last issue in a 1999 lawsuit by five deaf UPS employees.

UPS agreed to a $10 million settlement in the case in 2003 that required the company to track promotions for deaf and hearing-impaired workers and make sure job applicants have access to interpreters. The company also agreed to provide text telephones and vibrating pagers to alert disabled workers to emergencies and evacuations.

The U.S. Supreme Court has generally sided with transportation company safety concerns in recent Americans with Disabilities Act cases involving drivers with one eye or high blood pressure and pilots with vision loss.

UPS said it has been committed to hiring and promoting disabled workers for 30 years.

"Our company-wide efforts began in the 1970s," Black said, "long before the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990."
Click to expand...

source

Dunno about you, but if UPS starts sending deaf drivers for my pickups ... they'll soon find they don't have any anymore.
 
In fact I do agree that it is a safety issue in not allowing a totaly deaf person to drive a truck, not htat I don't think it cannot be done...
 
Sweet! I'll start listening to headphones while on the road, too, and when the cop pulls me over because that's illegal, I'll just cite this case. If you don't need to be able to ehar what's going on around you to drive a vehicle that requires more than a standard (Class C in California) license, then why would you need to be able to hear to drive a passenger car?
 
I'm hearing impaired and I don't have any issues with the ruling; why should the mere fact that I don't have perfect hearing lock me out of a job with UPS? :shrug:
 
Define hearing impaired for me. Someone with a hearing aid is one thing. Some using sign language is another thing entirely.
 
If you are legally able to get a CDL you should be able to drive for UPS. Can deaf folks get CDL's?
 
Fuck anti-discriminatory laws, long live discrimination. It is your right (or should be) to hire whoever you want.
 
So, when somebody gets run over by the deaf driver, it had better end up in the same court as this lunacy.
 
Gonz said:
So, when somebody gets run over by the deaf driver, it had better end up in the same court as this lunacy.
Click to expand...

The creator of Yeeshbah has a brother who drives, and is totally deaf. He drove better than most drivers I've seen simply because he was always looking out. Donald is the one who taught me how to adjust my side mirrors to eliminate the blind spots. If you have to ask, then you are driving with blind spots...
 
Gonz said:
Ever seen a UPS truck? The entire rear is a blind spot.
Click to expand...

Ever drive a Deuce and a half? Same thing. However...you don't really look out the rear of a delivery truck...you use the side mirrors. Trust me. You can totally eliminate your blind spots (which usually means the sides) if you set your mirrors correctly.
 
Drive trucks? Nah, not me. If a person is between a wall & the rear of the truck, as is very common in UPS situations, a normal driver could hear them yelling or banging. A deaf driver couldn't.

You can never completely eliminate blind spots on big trucks (save being a rolling mirror factory). They are in front, on the passenger front & just below and behind the driver & in the rear. They can be nearly eliminated with the standard 4 mirror setup but there is too much space to eliminate them. Add two fender mirrors & you're almost there. There are always dead spots somewhere.
 
Gonz said:
Drive trucks? Nah, not me. If a person is between a wall & the rear of the truck, as is very common in UPS situations, a normal driver could hear them yelling or banging. A deaf driver couldn't.
Click to expand...

Over those engines? Not likely...:p

Gonz said:
You can never completely eliminate blind spots on big trucks (save being a rolling mirror factory). They are in front, on the passenger front & just below and behind the driver & in the rear. They can be nearly eliminated with the standard 4 mirror setup but there is too much space to eliminate them. Add two fender mirrors & you're almost there. There are always dead spots somewhere.
Click to expand...

But we're not talking big rigs. We're talking local delivery vehicles. ;)
 
Even small cars have blind spots. A child can easily hide below your rear window.

An aunt accidentaly killed a boy like that. It was a redlight with a slope (probably a good 20-30º), a homeless kid accidentally dropped something below the car and he went there to get it. She didn't see it, the green light turned on, the rear bumper hit his head and killed him.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top