section:business

Ford agrees to $7.75 million sexual-harassment settlement

The Associated Press

CHICAGO -- Ford Motor Co. agreed to pay $7.75 million Tuesday to as many as 900 women to settle complaints that they were groped and subjected to crude comments and graffiti at two Chicago-area plants.

The settlement also calls for sensitivity training by outside consultants at Ford plants across the nation at a cost estimated by the EEOC at $10 million. Ford said it didn't know what the cost would be.

It was the fourth-largest sexual-harassment settlement in the history of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

A record $34 million settlement involving almost identical allegations against Mitsubishi Motors Manufacturing of America Inc. received final approval in June. The alleged harassment happened at a plant in Normal, Ill.

"This settlement demonstrates the EEOC's commitment to eradicate harassment from the workplaces of America," the commission's chairwoman, Ida L. Castro, said Tuesday.

Under the agreement, $7.5 million in damages would be split among an estimated 700 to 900 women who can show sexual harassment or sex discrimination at Ford plants in Chicago and suburban Chicago Heights.

How much each claimant receives will be decided by a three-member independent board to be set up under the settlement.

The board also will supervise efforts within the plants to root out sexual harassment and discrimination. It will consist of one member named by the EEOC, one named by Ford and a chairman appointed by those members.

Under the settlement, more women will get management positions and supervisors who see sexual harassment but do nothing will be ineligible for promotions and bonuses.

James J. Padilla, Ford group vice president for manufacturing, praised what he described as "a partnership with the EEOC."

"This agreement further strengthens Ford's longstanding policy of zero tolerance and will help move us toward our goal of zero occurrence of harassment of any kind at our facilities," he said.

The $7.75 million cost of the damages won't strain the world's second-largest automaker, which reported operating earnings for the three months that ended in June of $2.48 billion.

Tuesday's news conference was interrupted briefly by Suzette Wright, 29, a worker at Ford's assembly plant on Chicago's South Side. She said she had been groped and subjected to crude comments from co-workers.

She asked Padilla for an apology. With cameras rolling, Padilla said if any Ford employees had been deprived of their dignity, "we apologize."

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