Albertson's, Inc. v. Hallie Kirkingburg (527 U.S. 555)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 22, 1999 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 527 U.S. 555 · 119 S. Ct. 2162
- Decided
- June 22, 1999
- Term
- October Term 1998
- Vote
- 7–2
- Majority author
- Justice Souter
- Issue area
- Civil Rights
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Souter delivered the opinion of the Court. The question posed is whether, under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA or Act), 104 Stat. 327, as amended, 42 U. S. C. § 12101 et seq. (1994 ed. and Supp. Ill), an employer who requires as a job qualification that an employee meet an otherwise applicable federal safety regulation must justify enforcing the regulation solely because its standard may be waived in an individual ease. We answer no. I In August 1990, petitioner, Albertson’s, Inc., a grocery-store chain with supermarkets in several States, hired respondent, Hallie Kirkingburg, as a truckdriver based at its Portland, Oregon, warehouse. Kirkingburg had more than a decade’s driving experience and performed well when petitioner’s transportation manager took him on a road test. Before starting work, Kirkingburg was examined to see if he met federal vision standards for commercial truck-drivers. 143 P. 3d 1228, 1230-1231 (CA9 1998). For many decades the Department of Transportation and its predecessors have been responsible for devising these standards for individuals who drive commercial vehicles in interstate commerce. Since 1971, the basic vision regulation has required corrected distant visual acuity of at least 20/40 in each eye and distant binocular acuity of at least 20/40. See 35 Fed. Reg. 6458, 6463 (1970); 57 Fed. Reg. 6793, 6794 (1992); 49 CFR §…
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