(AP) — The federal government has joined several former workers in suing Union Pacific over the way it used a vision test to disqualify workers the railroad believed were color blind and might have trouble reading signals telling them to stop a train.
Union Pacific didn't immediately respond to questions about the lawsuit Monday.
The EEOC said in its lawsuit that the test doesn't replicate real world conditions or show whether workers can accurately identify railroad signals.
Some of the workers who sued had failed Union Pacific's “light cannon” test but passed another vision test that has the approval of the Federal Railroad Administration.
The workers involved in the lawsuit were doing their jobs successfully for Union Pacific for between two and 30 years.
Persons:
”, Gregory Gochanour, EEOC
Organizations:
Union Pacific, Pacific, EEOC’s Chicago, Federal Railroad Administration
Locations:
OMAHA, Neb, Norfolk Southern, Ohio, Pennsylvania, East Palestine, Pacific, Minnesota , Illinois, Arizona , Idaho , California , Kansas , Nebraska , Oregon, Washington, Texas, The Omaha , Nebraska