FILE – A Union Pacific train travels through Union, Neb., July 31, 2018. The federal government has joined a number of former workers in suing Union Pacific over the way it used its own vision test to disqualify workers the railroad believed were color blind and might have trouble reading signals telling them to stop a train. The new lawsuit was announced Monday, Oct. 2, 2023, by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File)

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The federal government has joined 21 former rail workers in suing Union Pacific over the way it used a vision test to disqualify workers the railroad believed were color blind and might have trouble reading signals telling them to stop a train. The lawsuit announced Monday by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is the first by the government in what could eventually be hundreds — if not thousands — of lawsuits over the way Union Pacific disqualified people with a variety of health issues. Union Pacific has vigorously defended itself in court, arguing it needs to disqualify these workers to preserve rail safety.