A complaint brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over the failure of Wilson Logistics to hire a deaf driver has ended in a payment from the logistics company and a long list of steps it must take in its hiring process.
The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina announced Monday that a settlement had been reached between the EEOC and Transportation Management Group, the name of the company that does business as Wilson Logistics, which is based in North Carolina.
The monetary part of the settlement is relatively small: $50,000. All of that will go to Jerrell McRary, the truck driver whose attempt to be hired by Wilson in 2023 abruptly ended when a recruiter who answered the phone and was told there would be a sign language interpreter on the call said “we cannot accept that here” as the call quickly ended. McCrary had a hearing exemption from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and had driven for Swift Transportation and U.S. Xpress, among other employers.
The split is $22,500 for back pay, with the balance for “emotional distress damages.”
The EEOC sued Wilson under the Americans with Disabilities Act. A motion by Wilson earlier in the case for summary judgment was denied by the court. “The EEOC has proffered direct evidence of discrimination,” Judge Catherine Eagles wrote in denying the Wilson request..
That rejection in December was followed by the recent settlement.
What Wilson must do
The list of other steps Wilson must take as part of the settlement involve hiring and onboarding processes spelled out in the settlement document published by Judge Eagles.
Wilson must change the current wording on its employment application that asks “whether an applicant can read, write, or speak English from any employment applications and replace it with the following: ‘Do you read and speak English OR (court’s emphasis) hold an exemption from federal hearing Requirements?’”
Added after that will be the following statement: “Applicants for driving positions who hold a federal hearing exemption are eligible to apply for employment.”
Wilson’s website will be required to be amended to post the following: ““Wilson Logistics, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer, which welcomes and values all candidates. Wilson Logistics does not discriminate against candidates or employees because of their disability, sex, race, religion, national origin, age, or any other protected status under the law. Any applicant or employee.” It also said employees can ask for a “reasonable accommodation” for a “status…protected under the law.”
Similar wording will need to be added to documents used to screen job candidates.
New policy required
Wilson will need to develop a “Disability Accommodations Policy” that will include among other things a “clearly defined process for applicants and/or employees to request reasonable accommodations in compliance with the requirements of the ADA.” It would also include a “statement that any manager who fails to follow the reasonable accommodation policy, or who fails to engage in the interactive process in good faith, will be subject to disciplinary action.”
As to the specific role of a truck driver who is hearing impaired seeking employment, Wilson will need to “implement a clearly defined policy for applicants and drivers to notify (Wilson) of any FMCSA exemption held by the applicant or driver.”
Wilson must launch an annual training program of an hour that will be given to all “non-management/non-supervisory in-office personnel.” It will need to deal with such issues as the antidiscrimination provisions of the ADA and the “reasonable accommodation procedures” the company will be implementing.
Training also will be provided to supervisory employees as well.
An email sent to Wilson Logistics and the company’s outside attorneys listed in court documents had not been responded to by publication time.
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