Docket Number: 98-591
Appealed From: U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit
Subjects: Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. 12112(a); employment discrimination

At Issue: Whether a truck driver blind in one eye who received a waiver from Department of Transportation vision standards is disabled for the purposes of the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Decision: The justices voted unanimously that the plaintiff in this case was not protected by the Americans With Disabilities Act. They ruled that employers who set job qualifications based on federal safety standards do not have to overlook those standards when a worker obtains a waiver from the federal agency.

• The full text of the Albertson's v. Kirkingburg decision is available at the FindLaw Internet Legal Resources Web site.

• The full text of the 1997 decision from the 9th Circuit, Kirkingburg v. Albertson's, Inc., also is available at FindLaw.

• Full text of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Justice Department's ADA home page.

• The pertinent provision on equal employment opportunities for the disabled in the U.S. Code (42 U.S.C. 12112 (a)), is available at the Web site for the U.S. House of Representatives' Office of the Law Revision Counsel.

Sources: The Washington Post, Supreme Court, The United States Law Week (a Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. publication)