Updates on Sexual Harassment - Archives

SECOND QUARTER 2001

This section contains brief updates of recent sexual harassment complaints, suits, settlements, awards, surveys and studies. The information is gathered from many places and is intended to give an overview of the most current events. It is not meant to provide an exhaustive list of all the news.

Probe Sought of Maine Postal Service: A jury in Portland, Maine recently decided in less than two hours, that the Portland Post Office was guilty again in the latest of a series of sexual harassment cases. Maine's biggest postal operation has faced--and lost or settled--five sexual harassment lawsuits in the last three years. The office has also faced more than 20 job discrimination suits since the mid-1990s with still more pending. 6/25/01 Full story in the May Webb Report

Washington State Supreme Court Holds Supervisors Liable: The Washington State Supreme Court resolved the conflict between previous Court of Appeals decisions in holding that employees in supervisory positions, acting in the interest of their employer, can be individually liable for their acts in the employer has eight or more employees. Therefore, under the Washington Law Against Discrimination, managers in companies with eight or more people may be liable if they discriminate against a person in the employment setting because of that person's age, sex, marital status, race, creed, color, national origin, or disability. The case was Brown v. Scott Paper. 6/11/01

Ford Motor Takes Steps to Eliminate Harassment: On the heels of its $7.5 million settlement last year with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission involving women at two Chicago-area plants, Ford says it is undertaking a broad effort to change the culture at its U.S. plants. The women at the Chicago plants said they were subjected to a hostile work environment, where there was physical and verbal harassment. Those who reported it said they were subjected to retaliation. Ford now plans to spend $27 million on training, with every manufacturing employee given a three-hour course by the end of the year on harassment issues. 4/12/01

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