EEOC Determination Supports Charges of Sexual Harassment At Two Ford Motor Company Plants in Chicago

Business Wire, Jan 6, 1999

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 6, 1999--The U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has issued a Determination, supporting allegations of sexual harassment and sexually hostile and offensive work environments at two Ford Motor Company plants in Chicago, to five women plaintiffs who had previously filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the company, according to Daniel L. Berger of Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP and Vanessa L. Smith, lawyers representing the women.

The Determination was issued after the EEOC, which had previously granted the women a Right To Sue Letter, conducted its own investigation of the charges that women were routinely sexually harassed and subject to a sexually hostile and offensive work environment at the Ford plants.

"Our clients feel vindicated by this Determination. The lawsuit will reach a new level of intensity now that the EEOC has concluded its independent investigation of the charges," said Daniel Berger. "We're ready to take the next step and prepare to present our case to a jury."

The complaint was filed in August of 1998 in the Federal District Court in the Northern District of Illinois as a class action pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by six women, on behalf of themselves and all women employed at either the Chicago Ford Assembly Plant or the Chicago Ford Stamping Plant at any time between January 15, 1996 and the present. Plaintiffs alleged that supervisors at every level of management at the two plants condoned and perpetuated the sexually harassing work environments.

In the complaint, plaintiffs describe a workplace permeated with offensive references to women, including factory walls and lockers plastered with explicit pornographic posters and "pin-up calendars"; pornographic magazines strewn about in public areas; and sexually explicit graffiti on wall and lockers. In addition, the plaintiffs claim they and their women co-workers were subjected to daily barrages of hooting, cat calls, propositions and sexist insults, and incidents of unwanted touching. These allegations were confirmed by the EEOC Determination, which concludes that the evidence obtained in the investigation "established reasonable cause to believe that a class of female employees . . . has been subjected to sexual harassment by managers and nonmanagers."

Plaintiffs are represented by Vanessa L. Smith, Esq. and the law firm of Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP. Ms. Smith is an attorney and employment consultant who counsels Fortune 500 and entrepreneurial companies on a myriad of employment issues including sexual harassment in the workplace. Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP prosecutes class actions, multiplaintiff and other high impact litigation on behalf of employees against employers who violate federal or state employment and discrimination laws. The firm represents diverse clients on a wide range of race, gender, sexual orientation and age discrimination issues, including sexual harassment claims, and "glass ceiling" cases in which otherwise qualified employees are passed over for promotions to managerial or executive positions. The firm recently represented a class of African-American employees in the Texaco Inc. race discrimination class action which was settled for the largest single settlement in the history of employment discrimination litigation.

If you wish to discuss this action, please contact Daniel Berger at Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP at (212) 554-1400 or by e-mail at blbg@blbglaw.com or visit our website at http://www.blbglaw.com.