Topic: Good Lord. EEOC to trucking companies: You cannot fire alcoholics

[IronDioPriest]

It seems obvious to me that a primary goal of this government is to simply turn the world upside-down for American business, cut the legs out from under it, and send a signal that nothing can be counted on, stability is a thing of the past, and there is nothing the government cannot and will not do at its own whim to harm business.

Feds to Trucking Company: You Cannot Fire Alcoholic Drivers

The federal government has sued a major trucking company for its firing of driver with an admitted alcohol abuse problem.

Alcoholism is classified as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the suit maintains, and therefore employees cannot be prohibited even from driving 18 wheelers due to their histories of abuse.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which filed the suit against the Old Dominion Freight Line trucking company on August 16, noted that while “an employer’s concern regarding safety on our highways is a legitimate issue, an employer can both ensure safety and comply with the ADA.”

(See EEOC's complaint at the link)

If the EEOC prevails, of course, it will mean that Old Dominion will still be liable both for any damage to life or property that results from a potential relapse by one of its recovering drivers – which in turn increases the risks involved in investment in the company – and for the cost of trying to ensure that such damage never occurs. All of these new burdens will raise Old Dominion’s cost of doing business, and hence the cost of everything they transport. And all of this can’t possibly ensure that a recovering driver does not relapse without the company’s knowledge.

More @ link...

[Glock32]

It's like Mark Levin said on his show yesterday, we simply do not live in a representative republic anymore. The bureaucratic state rules by fiat, capriciously and often with one organ of the state issuing edicts at odds with another organ of the state. They know it is literally impossible to comply with all of them at the same time, and this is used to have the citizen over a barrel when and wherever it proves convenient to the state.

We need to recognize that Levin is exactly right, we do not live in a representative republic. The thin patina of "consent" in the form of elected Representatives and Senators changes this not at all, because they have ceded so much power to the Executive branch and simply shirk their obligations in those areas they have not ceded.

[Libertas]

I'd tell the effing EEOC to go screw themselves...what are they gonna do, come for me, my business, throw every single employee out of work?

I'd dare them to try!

 

[Pandora]

... the driver at the Fort Smith location had worked for the company for five years without incident. In late June 2009, the employee reported to the company that he believed he had an alcohol problem. Under U.S. Department of Transportation regulations, the employer suspended the employee from his driving position and referred him for substance abuse counseling.

 

Pure speculation here, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn the only reason the driver "self-reported" was to get his employer to pay for his "counseling".

[Janny]

 Can't fire them, but if they drive drunk and kill people and/or destroy property, you're responsible? If this isn't a classic case of "damned if you do and damned if you don't," I don't know what is.

[ttomm46]

I showed up drunk to a job once...Got fired..Maybe i should have hollered discrimination..    

[Pandora]

I showed up drunk to a job once...Got fired..Maybe i should have hollered discrimination..    

No.  "DisABLED!!"

[RickZ]

Thus private enterprise dies as government regulations/rules/laws/diktats become impossible to follow.  When the Government becomes so anti-business, the only 'business' left is the Government.

It's a brave new world, right Tovarisch?

[charlesoakwood]

I'd tell the effing EEOC to go screw themselves...what are they gonna do, come for me, my business, throw every single employee out of work?

I'd dare them to try!

 

Nip those problems in the bud and they won't disturb the bureaucrats.

[Delta Force]

It seems obvious to me that a primary goal of this government is to simply turn the world upside-down for American business, cut the legs out from under it, and send a signal that nothing can be counted on, stability is a thing of the past, and there is nothing the government cannot and will not do at its own whim to harm business.

Feds to Trucking Company: You Cannot Fire Alcoholic Drivers

The federal government has sued a major trucking company for its firing of driver with an admitted alcohol abuse problem.

Alcoholism is classified as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the suit maintains, and therefore employees cannot be prohibited even from driving 18 wheelers due to their histories of abuse.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which filed the suit against the Old Dominion Freight Line trucking company on August 16, noted that while “an employer’s concern regarding safety on our highways is a legitimate issue, an employer can both ensure safety and comply with the ADA.”

(See EEOC's complaint at the link)

If the EEOC prevails, of course, it will mean that Old Dominion will still be liable both for any damage to life or property that results from a potential relapse by one of its recovering drivers – which in turn increases the risks involved in investment in the company – and for the cost of trying to ensure that such damage never occurs. All of these new burdens will raise Old Dominion’s cost of doing business, and hence the cost of everything they transport. And all of this can’t possibly ensure that a recovering driver does not relapse without the company’s knowledge.

More @ link...

Being a former cop and working motor carrier safety, and now being a safety director for a very large trucking company, this absolutely appalls me.  With that being said, I don't think this will stand.  There is already a SCOTUS ruling from several years ago that effectively states the ADA has no standing when it comes to the safety regulations of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.  This was based upon a lawsuit filed by a driver that had monocular vision.