Illustration 2: "Is this Person Qualified under the ADA?"

Bob applied for a position as a vehicle/equipment operator in the dairy plant at a large public university. The posting listed the following preferred qualifications:

• experience in dairy or food deliveries;
• experience in deliveries or providing services to Department of Correction facilities;
• experience in handling of bulk farm milk for transport.

The essential job duties were listed as:

• raw farm milk transport;
• product deliveries;
• equipment maintenance;
• plant sanitation;
• materials handling.

Bob had 12 years of experience in various kinds of food deliveries with three different companies and was a former Department of Correction food service employee. While in high school, Bob worked every afternoon on a dairy farm preparing milk for transport to the local milk processing plant and cleaning and sanitizing the equipment and facility. Given his experience, Bob thought this was the perfect job for him. He responded to an e-recruitment advertisement about the job opening and immediately received an email response requesting he schedule an in-person interview the following week. Information about the on-site interview process stated that before meeting with the two dairy plant supervisors, all applicants would first be given a series of written case scenarios to describe how they would handle certain work-related situations.

On the day of the interview, Bob arrived twenty minutes early to the lobby of the dairy plant. The receptionist was not yet at her desk but Bob read the sign that asked all applicants to sign in, take a copy of the written case scenarios, and begin writing their answers. Bob complied.

As Bob was working on the scenarios, the receptionist came in, checked the sign in sheet, and nodded to Bob. It was at that time that she noticed Bob was wearing bilateral hearing aids. The receptionist then left her desk and reported her discovery to the two dairy plant supervisors. Both supervisors agreed that this applicant was not qualified for the job. They instructed the receptionist to tell Bob, upon receipt of his written work, that he was done for the day and would hear from the plant soon about the job. Three days later, Bob received a letter that told him he was not qualified for the job and apologized for any inconvenience.

Is Bob a qualified person with a disability under the ADA?