The petition of United Parcel Service for a rehearing by the full Ninth Circuit was granted in a case involving a UPS policy of excluding hearing-impaired applicants for “package-car driver” positions. In Oct. 2006, a three-member panel of the Court held that UPS did not prove that deaf delivery drivers would be unsafe. UPS had excluded the driver candidates if they could not pass the U.S. Dept of Transportation hearing standard, but the panel pointed out that the vehicles operated by the drivers were not covered by the DOT rules. The opinion further pointed out that the company had not proved business necessity because the studies on which it relied were flawed, and did not show that deaf drivers were more unsafe than hearing drivers who had prior accidents and who were allowed by UPS to continue to drive. According to the rehearing grant, the panel’s opinion will not be cited as precedent, except to the extent adopted by the en banc court. Bates v. UPS; Panel Opinion filed 10/10/06.