Deaf driver awarded $36 million after trucking firm refused to rent him, feds say
An Omaha, Nebraska, jury voted to award a driver with a listening to incapacity tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} after discovering that the trucking firm that refused to rent him violated the Individuals with Disabilities Act.
Victor Robinson was awarded $75,000 in compensatory damages and $36,000,000 in punitive damages in his case in opposition to Drivers Administration, LLC and Werner Enterprises, Inc., in accordance with a September 1 assertion from the Equal Employment Alternative Fee (EEOC).
In keeping with the EEOC, Robinson, who’s deaf, accomplished coaching at Roadmaster, a Werner-owned truck driving college, and acquiring his business driver’s license. Robinson additionally obtained an exemption from the listening to regulation from the Federal Motor Service Security Administration.
Nonetheless, authorities say that when Robinson utilized to be a driver for Werner in 2016, “Werner’s Vice President of Security advised Robinson that the corporate wouldn’t rent him as a result of he couldn’t hear.”
Moreover, the Werner Vice President of Security testified that Werner continues to disclaim employment to deaf drivers.
“Victor Robinson had the braveness to step ahead and say what occurred to him was unsuitable,” mentioned EEOC Chair Charlotte A. Burrows. “The jury agreed, and their substantial verdict sends a transparent message to employers in all places that our nation is not going to tolerate incapacity discrimination.”
“Werner’s refusal to acknowledge Mr. Robinson’s skills damage not solely him, however the complete Deaf neighborhood,” mentioned EEOC’s trial staff, Supervisory Trial Lawyer Joshua M. Pierson and Trial Attorneys Meredith S. Berwick and Lauren Wilson. “As this verdict demonstrates, corporations like Werner that deny affordable lodging to drivers with disabilities achieve this at their peril.”
