Nebraska Jury Awards $36 million in Disability Discrimination Case Against Trucking Carrier

An eight-person jury in Omaha, Nebraska returned a verdict of $36,075,000 in favor of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on disability discrimination claims against Drivers Management, LLC and Werner Enterprises, Inc., the federal agency announced.

The jury found that the truckload carriers failed to hire and failed to accommodate Victor Robinson, who is deaf, for a truck driving job in 2016. The EEOC presented evidence that Robinson applied to work at Werner after completing training at Roadmaster, a Werner-owned truck driving school, and obtaining his commercial driver’s license (CDL).

Robinson also obtained from the U.S. Department of Transporta­tion’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) an exemption from the hearing regulation for the operation of a commercial motor vehicle. After he applied, Werner’s Vice President of Safety told Robinson that the company would not hire him because he could not hear. The Vice President of Safety testified at trial that Werner continues to deny employment opportunities to new Deaf drivers.

The jury awarded Robinson $75,000 in compensatory damages and $36,000,000 in punitive damages after deliberating for less than two hours following a four-day trial, finding that Drivers Management and Werner’s conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

According to its website, Werner maintains offices in the United States, Canada, Mexico, China and Australia and is among the five largest truckload carriers in the United States. Its wholly-owned subsidiary company, Drivers Management, employs, trains, and manages drivers.

The EEOC filed its lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska (EEOC v. Drivers Management, LLC and Werner Enterprises, Inc., Case No. 8:18-cv-00462) after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.

Source: EEOC

Topics Trucking