Megan K. Mechak
Wed, 09/06/2023
After less than two hours of deliberations, a federal jury in Omaha, Nebraska, awarded $75,000 in actual damages and $36 million in punitive damages to a Deaf truck driver. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which brought the lawsuit, alleged that Werner Enterprises, Inc., and its wholly owned subsidiary, Driver’s Management, LLC, discriminated against the driver and violated the Americans with Disabilities Act when it failed to hire him for a truck-driving job.
The ADA prohibits employers from discriminating against qualified disabled workers, and requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations so qualified disabled workers can perform essential job functions. In this case, the driver successfully completed training at Roadmaster (which is owned by Werner), obtained his Commercial Driver’s License, and obtained an exemption from the Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to the hearing regulation for operation of a commercial vehicle. Nonetheless, the company maintained that the driver’s deafness could not be reasonably accommodated, and the company’s Vice President of Safety testified that it simply does not hire Deaf drivers.
On September 1, the jury disagreed, finding that the defendants’ refusal to hire Deaf drivers was not a business necessity, and awarded the driver both actual and punitive damages. The law caps punitive and compensatory damages at $300,000.
The case is Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Drivers Management, LLC, and Werner Enterprises, Inc., and it is pending in the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska.
MSE represents workers who have experienced employment discrimination. For more information, visit our website. If you believe your employer has discriminated against you, contact us at info@mselaborlaw.com, or online.
