Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. United Parcel Services, Inc.

**What Happened** The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) sued United Parcel Service (UPS) over the company's hiring practices for delivery drivers. UPS had a blanket policy that automatically rejected all job applicants who could only see out of one eye (called monocular vision) from any driving position, regardless of their actual driving ability or safety record. **What the Court Decided** The court ruled in favor of the EEOC, finding that UPS violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The judge determined that UPS's automatic rejection policy was discriminatory and illegal. Instead of blanket exclusions, the court ordered UPS to evaluate each applicant individually to determine if they could safely perform the essential duties of driving, even with vision in only one eye. **Why This Matters for Workers** This ruling protects workers with disabilities from automatic discrimination in hiring. Employers cannot simply assume that a disability prevents someone from doing a job—they must evaluate each person's actual abilities. Companies must give qualified applicants with disabilities a fair chance to prove they can perform the work safely and effectively, rather than making sweeping judgments based on medical conditions alone.