Jury says, Minnesota company did not discriminate against deaf man in declining to hire him for truck driver job

From Duluth News Tribune in Minn.:

The Hibbing Taconite Company did not discriminate against a deaf Iron Range man when it declined to hire him for the positions of truck driver or heavy equipment operator, a jury determined July 30 in U.S. District Court in Duluth.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, on behalf of James Edstrom, filed the lawsuit in March of last year under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 alleging unlawful employment practices by Hibbing Taconite for allegedly discriminating against Edstrom on the basis of his deafness.

The suit claimed that Hibbing Taconite first failed to interview Edstrom, of Eveleth, because of his disabilities, then interviewed him but failed to provide him with reasonable accommodations in the application process and then rejected him for positions for which he was qualified because of his disabilities.

In Hibbing Taconite’s statement of the case, it argued that Edstrom admitted he could not perform the essential functions of the jobs for which he applied and that if he had been hired he would have posed a threat to the safety of other workers at Hibbing Taconite.

It is a defense to a charge of disability discrimination that an employer’s job qualification standards include a requirement that an individual “not pose a direct threat to the health or safety of other individuals in the work place.”

After a six-day trial before U.S. District Judge Richard Kyle, the eight-member jury deliberated less than two hours before finding that the mining company did not discriminate against Edstrom.

Donald Gilbert, the Phoenix, Ariz., attorney who represented Hibbing Taconite, declined comment after the verdict. He referred questions to Maureen Talarico, Cliffs Natural Resources District Manager/Public Affairs Minnesota.

“Hibbing Taconite would like to thank the jury for its service,’’ Talarico said. “We recognize the time and effort this case involved. It’s clear that the jurors understood the facts of this case and that they acted accordingly.”

Laurie Vasichek of Minneapolis was the senior attorney representing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission at the trial. “We’re disappointed in the jury verdict, but we’re happy to present the case to the jury and we appreciate the overwhelming support of the deaf community in our efforts to present this matter,” Vasichek said.