Dive Brief:
- The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission brought a suit against Union Pacific Railroad on Oct. 2, alleging that the freight company violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by terminating conductors and locomotive engineers in Minneapolis on the basis of perceived disability.
- Union Pacific used “unlawful qualification standards” to screen out people with disabilities — subjecting employees to “unlawful medical examinations and inquiries” such as tests for color vision, EEOC said. The agency alleged that the freight company required employees to pass a “light cannon test,” which “does not replicate real-world conditions or accurately assess whether someone can identify the color of railway signals,” the EEOC noted in a press statement.
- The EEOC is seeking reinstatement of the terminated workers, plus back pay and compensatory and punitive damages.
Dive Insight:
Along with back pay and damages, the EEOC is also seeking changes to Union Pacific’s policies and practices. Worth noting is that, in 2019, Union Pacific was ordered by a U.S. District Court judge — in the District of Nebraska, where Union Pacific is headquartered — to submit information regarding this light cannon test (Harris vs. UPRR).
In the 2023 case, the employees all passed an initial color vision screening test, prior to being required to take the light cannon test or provide medical records confirming that they don’t have a vision deficiency that would prevent them from doing their job.
When the workers failed the light cannon test, Union Pacific moved them from their roles to indefinite leave and “effectively fired them, despite having successfully performed as conductors or locomotive engineers for Union Pacific for years,” the EEOC said.
“Everyone wants railroads to be safe,” Gregory Gochanour, a regional attorney for EEOC’s Chicago district, said. But “firing qualified, experienced employees for failing an invalid test of color vision does nothing to promote safety,” he said.
