Re: phsycals for pre-employment.

Yes, absolutely. Any company may have more stringent requirements for employment than either state or federal guidelines require. What they may not do is override/ignore those guidelines with less stringent requirements.

No, it is not discrimination if it is a reasonable physical requirement to perform the necessary job functions of the driver position for that particular company. Now if they were hiring you to be a dispatcher, and the job duties for a dispatcher didn't require lifting, then you may have a point.

Yes, many truck drivers do need to lift/shift/maneuver that much weight on occasion, sometimes more. Other truck drivers may never lift that much. It all depends on what kind of freight/material the company moves and how they move it - i.e. truckload, drop and hook, LTL, etc. Maybe look at some other companies, ones advertising no-touch freight. But, even with that, there are still circumstances where physical strength/agility is required from a driver to perform other essential duties.

But don't give up. I know there are a good many small women working in trucking. And, if nothing else, you can always work on building your upper body strength a little, to get that 50lbs on the shelf, if you want to work for Crete. Good luck to you.

BTW, I ran across this video the other day and posted it in a different thread. I believe this person is under 5', so it can be done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CruJ0IVUXm8

 

I will bet if you change the angle you tried to lift that fifty pounds with, you could do it. Many times if your wrists are placed wrong for the lift you can't lift it. For instance hook the handles with your thumbs and start the lift under what your lifting.

Even with no touch freight you may still have to chain up and they can be heavy. Locking load locks in place to secure freight takes strenth, and lastly pulling your own weight up into the truck or the trailer..

 

after 20 seconds of watching that video, i got all tuckered out....i just couldn't continue watching someone do all that work......