An Omaha, Nebraska, jury recently decided in favor of a driver with a hearing disability, awarding him tens of millions of dollars. They found that the trucking company, which had refused to hire him, had violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The individual in question, Victor Robinson, received $75,000 in compensatory damages and a substantial $36,000,000 in punitive damages. This verdict came about in his legal case against Drivers Management, LLC, and Werner Enterprises, Inc., as stated in a press release by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on September 1.
The EEOC reported that Robinson, who is deaf, successfully completed training at Roadmaster, a truck driving school owned by Werner, and obtained his commercial driver’s license. He also secured an exemption from the hearing regulation from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
Nevertheless, it was revealed that when Robinson applied to work as a driver for Werner in 2016, the company’s Vice President of Safety informed him that they would not hire him due to his hearing impairment. Furthermore, the same Werner Vice President of Safety testified that the company continues to reject job applications from deaf individuals seeking employment as drivers.
“Victor Robinson had the courage to step forward and say what happened to him was wrong,” said EEOC Chair Charlotte A. Burrows. “The jury agreed, and their substantial verdict sends a clear message to employers everywhere that our nation will not tolerate disability discrimination.”
“Werner’s refusal to acknowledge Mr. Robinson’s abilities hurt not only him, but the entire Deaf community,” said EEOC’s trial team, Supervisory Trial Attorney Joshua M. Pierson and Trial Attorneys Meredith S. Berwick and Lauren Wilson. “As this verdict demonstrates, companies like Werner that deny reasonable accommodations to drivers with disabilities do so at their peril.”
