Posted on 10/10/2006 12:59:50 PM PDT by SmithL
San Francisco -- A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a lower court ruling that UPS Inc. violated anti-discrimination laws by automatically barring the deaf and hearing-impaired from driving parcel delivery trucks.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson's 2004 ruling that the Atlanta-based company's practices breach the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Henderson, in a class-action case representing as many as 1,000 would-be drivers, ruled that the hearing impaired should "be given the same opportunities that a hearing applicant would be given to show that they can perform the job of package-car driver safely and effectively." The San Francisco federal court order was stayed pending appeal.
On appeal, UPS maintained its hiring practice was a safety issue and that it was not discriminating. The company did not immediately have a comment, a spokesman said.
"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 of the appeals court.
The case was litigated by Disability Rights Advocates who represented current and former employees who were passed over for driving positions, and other potential employees who consented to what the group dubbed UPS's "deaf-need-not-apply" policy.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Yes! And the nerve of UPS. They also discriminate against BLIND drivers. How dare they.
You'll get arrested for Driving While Blind. (Cue the ZZ Top)
please, can we reason above the jr high level?
Being physically capable of operating a vehicle doesn't qualify one to be a professional operator, any more than being able to swing a bat qualifies one for a profession in baseball.
No case like this should be allowed unless the plantiffs use deaf counsel, and no judge should be allowed to rule unless he is also deaf.
Horn? I didn't hear no horn...........
The Ninth Circus has selective hearing loss...
Didn't you hear those fire engine sirens.
Didn't you hear her screaming not to backup.
Didn't you hear them blowing the horn? etc.
Next up, man with no arms sues the US Olympic committee for not letting him compete in the clean and jerk weightlifting event.
I would except for the tiny fact that I make considerably more income than the best paid pilots - based on my brain, education and 37 years of industry knowledge....
Frankly IMO all these ill-informed and sarcastic posts on this thread fully demonstrate a high level of ignorance with respect to peoples abilities -- that also happen to have varying degrees of so called handicaps –
Last time I checked Jim Rob that founded this board was doing a pretty good job from his wheel-chair.?
ADA - Full Lawyer Employment Act.
Worst law EVER.
A "modified" driving technique would be to force UPS to hire a person qualified to sign to the driver. Before you think I'm kidding, a "hearing impaired" drafter sued a company I worked for to hire a translator to sit next to him and sign verbal instructions from the engineer.
The blind stand in line at UPS' personnel office door today.
Many deaf people drive safely, especially with some accomodations to their disability, as the article mentions...
please, can we reason above the jr high level?
Being physically capable of operating a vehicle doesn't qualify one to be a professional operator, any more than being able to swing a bat qualifies one for a profession in baseball.
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Ouch, bet he didn't see or hear that one comming. ROFL
Or screaming passengers.
Following the "ping someone if mentioned" rule...
Big Brown Truck Ping...
Last time I checked Jim Rob that founded this board was doing a pretty good job from his wheel-chair.?
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IS he applying for a job delivering packages? What a silly comment trying to apply the two from a logical point.
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