ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, April 10, 1996 TAG: 9604100067
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHICAGO
SOURCE: Associated Press
Mitsubishi managers were hit with a sexual harassment lawsuit Tuesday alleging female assembly workers were groped, fondled and subjected to obscene remarks and sexually explicit graffiti.
As many as 700 women at a central Illinois plant were harassed for years while managers did nothing, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleged in the lawsuit against Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturing of America Inc., a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Motors Corp.
The company denied the allegations.
``If we are surprised and horrified by anything, it's the manner that this has been brought to the public's attention,'' said Gary Shultz, Mitsubishi vice president and general counsel for the plant in Normal, Ill.
``A public spectacle has been made of claims made against this company,'' Shultz said in a telephone interview.
Each of the female employees could collect up to $300,000 in compensatory and punitive damages if the commission proves its case, commission officials said.
EEOC officials said the number of women and the possible damages make it the largest sexual harassment lawsuit ever filed by the commission. Previously, the largest was against Del Laboratories of New York, settled last year for $1.85 million.
``This case should ... send the strong message that sexual harassment in the workplace, whether in office suites or on the assembly line floor, will not be tolerated - especially on the outrageous scale that we see here,'' said Paul M. Igasaki, vice chairman of the EEOC.
The lawsuit said the breasts, buttocks and genitals of female assembly-line workers were groped and fondled, obscene remarks were made, and sexual graffiti covered walls. EEOC officials said an air hose was fired between the legs of one woman, adding that it was unclear if she was injured.
Commission officials said some women resigned in the face of such humiliating conditions and, thus, were effectively fired.
Most of the harassment was committed by other assembly line workers and low-level managers, the commission alleged. But officials said higher-level managers tolerated an atmosphere of sexual harassment and that the commission was unable to negotiate an agreement to stop harassment.
Both sides said efforts to negotiate a settlement reached an impasse last year. Shultz said that during negotiations, EEOC officials cited 26 cases of harassment.
EEOC officials said they were aware of hundreds of examples of women who were harassed at the plant.
LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Igasaki. color.by CNB