Inclusion Daily Express -- Appeals Court Decides To Re-hear UPS Driver Suit

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Appeals Court Decides To Re-hear UPS Driver Suit
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
April 25, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA--The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals announced Tuesday that the full 15-member court would reconsider a smaller panel's recent decision which held that deaf employees and job applicants could sue United Parcel Service over claims that the world's largest package delivery service discriminated against them.

Last October, a three-member panel of the court upheld a lower court ruling from 2004 that said UPS discriminated against deaf workers and applicants in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

That ruling centered around UPS' practice of making workers who wanted to drive delivery trucks weighing under 10,000 pounds to pass a Department of Transportation hearing test for vehicles weighing over 10,000 pounds. The court ruled that UPS must assess each deaf driving applicant based on individual driving qualifications instead of automatically screening him or her out with the broad-based DOT hearing test.

UPS argued that the requirement was a safety issue and was not discriminatory.

Larry Paradis, an attorney with the non-profit law firm Disability Rights Advocates, which has represented the plaintiffs since filing the original lawsuit in 1999, told KPIX-TV that he was a bit disappointed in the court's decision.

"We're still optimistic and hopeful that the court will agree with the trial judge," he said.

Related:
"Press release -- Historic ruling for deaf employees at UPS" October 10, 2006 (Disability Rights Advocates)
http://www.dralegal.org/cases/employment/bates_v_ups.php
Appeals Court Decision -- Bates v. UPS
http://www.dralegal.org/downloads/cases/bates/0417295.pdf

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