The federal government, along with more than a dozen former workers, is suing Union Pacific, saying it used vision tests to disqualify workers who the railroad believed were color blind and might not be able to read signals telling them to stop trains.
The lawsuit announced Monday by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of 21 former workers is the first of what could ultimately be hundreds, if not thousands, of lawsuits filed by the government. litigation Meanwhile, Union Pacific disqualified people with various health issues.
The cases were part of a class-action lawsuit in which the railroad estimated that as many as 7,700 people may have had to undergo so-called “fitness for duty” reviews between 2014 and 2018.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs estimate that nearly 2,000 of them face restrictions that prevent them from working for at least two years or indefinitely. But the railroad has not significantly changed its policy since making that estimate in earlier legal filings, meaning the number is likely to have increased over the past five years. To date, more than three dozen lawsuits have been filed, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is still reviewing more cases.
Union Pacific defended itself aggressively in court and declined to enter into settlement negotiations with the EEOC. The railroad said it was necessary to ensure safety by disqualifying workers because they believed they could not see colors well or had health problems such as epilepsy, heart disease or diabetes that could render them incapacitated. They also point out that federal regulations require color vision testing.
“The correct viewing and interpretation of the various signals that direct train operations by conductors and locomotive engineers is critical to the safety of our employees and the communities in which we operate,” said railroad spokesperson Kristen South.
Railroads often make decisions after reviewing medical records and disqualify many people even if their own doctors recommend allowing them to return to work.
Railway safety has always been main focus The fallout has been nationwide this year since a Norfolk Southern train derailed near the Pennsylvania Line in eastern Ohio in February, leaking dangerous chemicals and catching fire. evacuation In East Palestine.That shipwreck inspired many proposed reforms congress and Regulators Not yet approved.
“Everybody wants railroads to be safe,” said Gregory Gochanour, district attorney for the EEOC’s Chicago district. “However, firing qualified, experienced employees for failing color vision tests does nothing to promote safety and is a violation of the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act).”
The lawsuit focuses on a vision test developed by Union Pacific called the “light cannon” test, which requires workers to identify a light on a device placed a quarter mile (0.4 kilometers) away from the person being tested. color. The EEOC said in the lawsuit that the test cannot replicate real-world conditions and show whether workers can accurately read railroad signals.
Some of the workers who filed the lawsuit failed Union Pacific’s “light cannon” test but passed another vision test approved by the Federal Railroad Administration. Other workers who sued failed two tests but provided medical evidence to the railroad that they did not have color vision problems that would have prevented them from recognizing signals.
The workers involved in the lawsuit had successfully worked at Union Pacific for two to thirty years without any safety issues. The workers represented in the equal employment opportunity lawsuits work for companies in Minnesota, Illinois, Arizona, Idaho, California, Kansas, Nebraska, Oregon, Washington and Texas.
Anthony Petru, a lawyer representing some of the former UP workers, said the “light cannon” test is so unreliable that the railroad’s own experts have confirmed that the test will void the rights of a quarter of workers with perfect vision. qualifications.
“The last thing we want to do is take any steps to try to put anyone in charge of a freight train who is unsafe because of their physical characteristics,” Petrou said. “What we don’t want is someone who is safe, can do the job safely, is competent Employees who work are prohibited from working because the railroad considers them to have a disability, but they don’t.”
Petrew said Union Pacific’s disqualification of all these workers from vision tests “does not make the railroads safer in any way, shape, or form” because no Union Pacific workers were involved in derailments due to their inability to distinguish red from green. Or a history of collisions.
The Omaha, Nebraska-based railroad is one of the largest railroads in the United States, with tracks in 23 western states.
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