Ups deaf driver

Companies that fail to take such steps could find themselves vulnerable to similar suits from disabled employees. In its decision, the San Francisco-based U. The appeals panel held that employers must justify policies or job requirements that automatically exclude a group of disabled people. Deaf UPS employees said the ruling raised their hopes that they would one day be allowed to drive for the company. But if a deaf UPS driver has a serious accident, the company also could be sued.

Atlanta-based UPS had contended that deaf drivers posed a safety problem because of their inability to hear other vehicles.

Circuit Judge Marsha Berzon noted that UPS offered anecdotes of drivers avoiding collisions because they heard a warning. That is why deaf people nationwide may be licensed to drive passenger cars, he said. Deaf people who are qualified to drive in every state should have a chance to drive small delivery trucks for United Parcel Service if they show they are as safe behind the wheel as employees with normal hearing, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. The Ninth U. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld a federal judge's ruling two years ago that UPS, the world's largest private package carrier, violated the Americans With Disabilities Act by refusing to allow deaf employees to compete for jobs driving its smaller trucks, those weighing 10, pounds or less.

Larger trucks, which make up more than 90 percent of the Atlanta-based company's fleet of 65, vehicles, are covered by U. Department of Transportation regulations, which include hearing standards for drivers. But the court said UPS had failed to prove that deaf drivers would necessarily pose a safety risk in the smaller vehicles. The firm can subject individual drivers to the safety evaluations and training it provides to all applicants, Henderson said.

His ruling allows the deaf to apply for jobs as drivers of UPS vehicles known as "package cars ," weighing 10, pounds or less. Drivers of larger trucks, which make up about 90 percent of the Atlanta company's fleet of 65, vehicles, are required by law to meet U. Department of Transportation hearing standards.