Union Pacific Sued by Government for Discriminating Against Color Blind Railroad Workers with Flawed Test

The federal government, along with several former workers, has filed a lawsuit against Union Pacific for its use of a vision test that unfairly disqualified employees believed to be color blind. The lawsuit, announced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), is the first of many expected lawsuits against Union Pacific for disqualifying individuals with various health issues.

Originally, these cases were meant to be part of a larger class-action lawsuit that could have included up to 7,700 people who underwent a “fitness-for-duty” review between 2014 and 2018. However, the railroad has not made significant changes to its policies since then, suggesting that the number of affected individuals has likely increased in the past five years.

Union Pacific has yet to respond to the lawsuit or enter into settlement talks with the EEOC. The railroad has previously defended its actions, stating that disqualifying employees was necessary to ensure safety due to potential vision problems or other health conditions that could lead to incapacitation.

Many of the disqualifications were made based on medical records, even if the workers’ own doctors recommended that they be allowed to return to work.

The EEOC lawsuit focuses on a vision test called the “light cannon” test, developed by Union Pacific, which requires workers to identify the color of a light on a mobile device placed a quarter of a mile away. The EEOC argues that this test does not accurately replicate real-world conditions or assess workers’ ability to identify railroad signals.

Some of the workers involved in the lawsuit had failed Union Pacific’s “light cannon” test but passed another vision test approved by the Federal Railroad Administration. Other workers presented medical evidence to the railroad showing that they did not have a color vision problem that would prevent them from identifying signals.

The lawsuit represents workers from various states, including Minnesota, Illinois, Arizona, Idaho, California, Kansas, Nebraska, Oregon, Washington, and Texas.

Union Pacific is one of the largest railroads in the country, with tracks in 23 Western states.