Norfolk Southern to Pay $2.5 Million to End EEOC Disability Suit

Norfolk Southern and the EEOC reached a $2.5 million settlement of the agency’s lawsuit alleging the railroad used pre-employment or return-to-work medical exams to unlawfully screen out workers with disabilities, federal court records show.

The suit was filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission under the Americans with Disabilities Act in September 2017. It alleged that Norfolk Southern Corp. and Norfolk Southern Railway Co. excluded from employment a class of workers based on a wide range of actual or perceived disabilities or a history of disability, including cancer, drug addiction, diabetes, and PTSD.

The workers’ conditions were uncovered during pre-employment ...