Federal judge orders Werner Enterprises to pay deaf truck driver $335,000

[Omaha Steve]

(Getty Images)

https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/federal-judge-orders-werner-enterprises-to-pay-deaf-truck-driver-335000/

LINCOLN — A federal judge has ordered Omaha’s Werner Enterprises to pay a deaf driver $300,000 plus $35,682 in lost wages to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit.

The discrimination case had been filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of driver Victor Robinson, who had applied for a job with Werner in 2016, but then was rejected.

Despite being deaf, Robinson had obtained a “hearing exemption” from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and he graduated from a Werner-owned truck driving school.

Jury award was $36 million

In September, an eight-person jury found that Werner had violated the Americans with Disabilities Act because it had failed to hire Robinson and had failed to provide him with reasonable accommodation for his disability.

FULL story at link above.