A Massachusetts transit agency is not required to abide by union contracts in cases where it seeks to end discrimination, the state’s highest court has ruled. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court found Thursday that broader public policy concerns should supersede the union’s collective bargaining agreement in this case. The matter stemmed from a complaint filed by an applicant who was denied a job as a rail repairman after failing a hearing test in which in he was not allowed to use his hearing aids.

A federal appeals court on Friday ruled that a lower court had erred in dismissing a lawsuit filed by a diabetic man against his former employers. A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found that the plaintiff, who suffers from Type 2 diabetes, may be covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act. The ruling clears the way for the lawsuit against the Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District to go to trial in Phoenix.