United Parcel Service lost another battle in its efforts to apply federal commercial driver standards to all its drivers, even those not covered by DOT rules.

According to The San Francisco Chonicle, a federal appeals court last week ruled that UPS cannot bar the deaf from driving its smaller trucks unless the company can prove they are less safe than other drivers.
U.S. Department of Transportation regulations require the drivers of commercial vehicles above 10,000 pounds to pass a hearing test. That covers about 90 percent of the UPS fleet. But the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Fancisco ruled that an employer cannot enforce government safety standards "beyond their intended scope, to drivers and vehicles that [DOT] has expressly chosen not to regulate," said Judge Martha Berzon.
The decision was the result of a lawsuit filed by a UPS employee in Arizona who could not apply for a driving job because of a severe hearing impairment.
Another federal judge in San Francisco ruled last year that UPS violated federal disability law by refusing to consider drivers who are legally blind in one eye. Again, federal driver safety standards covering most of UPS' fleet prohibit one-eyed drivers in commercial vehicles over 10,000 pounds in interstate commerce. The company has appealed that ruling.