The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is suing Transportation Management Group, doing business as Wilson Logistics, for allegedly refusing to hire a deaf truck driver.
The suit, filed July 31 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, alleges that Missouri-based Wilson Logistics violated the Americans with Disabilities Act when the company refused to hire truck driver Jerrell McCrary.
“An employer cannot refuse to consider a job applicant because of a disability without conducting an individualized inquiry,” Melinda C. Dugas, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Charlotte District, said in an announcement about the suit. “The EEOC will continue to litigate cases in which qualified individuals with disabilities are summarily dismissed from the application process.”
McCrary, who is deaf, has a medical waiver from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration that waives federal regulations that would otherwise make him unqualified for driving positions, the lawsuit says.
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He called Wilson’s job recruiting line using a video relay service for deaf people on Jan. 12, 2023, with an interpreter, who informed the Wilson representative she was an interpreter calling for someone that uses sign language.
That’s when the representative said Wilson “cannot accept that over here,” the lawsuit says. The representative said it was a Department of Transportation requirement to read, write and speak English.
When McCrary told the representative he already had a CDL and experience driving, the representative allegedly told him, “I cannot bring in somebody who does sign language into our company. It’s one of our requirements.”
The EEOC is asking the court to order the company to provide equal employment opportunities for disabled candidates; amend its job applications to ensure equal employment opportunities for disabled people; institute anti-discrimination law training; and issue back pay to McCrary.
Wilson Logistics did not immediately respond to a FreightWaves inquiry about the lawsuit.