Do you want drunk truck drivers barreling down the highway? Probably not, but the government does.
That’s a bit of hyperbole, but it’s not an unreasonable interpretation of a lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The EEOC is upset that a trucking company is being intolerant of drivers with alcoholism problems.
This is one of those you-must-be-f-ing-kidding moments, something that only paper-pushing bureaucrats could decide was a good idea.
Here are excerpts about the case. But what you’re about to read isn’t from a critical expose. It’s what the EEOC says on its own website.
Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc., a trucking company with a service center in Fort Smith, Ark., violated federal law by discriminating against at least one truck driver because of self-reported alcohol abuse, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today. The company should have met its legal obligation to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act while assuring safety, rather than permanently sidelining self-reporting drivers, the EEOC contended. …Alcoholism is a recognized disability under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), and disability discrimination violates this federal law. The EEOC said that the company violated both the ADA and the Americans With Disabilities Act Amendment Act of 2008 (ADAAA) by conditioning reassignment to non-driving positions on the enrollment in an alcohol treatment program. In addition, the EEOC argued that Old Dominion’s policy that bans any driver who self-reports alcohol abuse from ever driving again also violates the ADA. …“The ADA mandates that persons with disabilities have an equal opportunity to achieve in the workplace. Old Dominion’s policy and practice of never returning an employee who self-reports an alcohol problem to a driving position violates that law,” said Katharine Kores, director of the EEOC’s Memphis District Office.
Our tax dollars in action.
