Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Chrysler, UAW face sexual harassment suits

|
|
 
  
Published: July 6, 2008 at 2:53 PM
Advertisement

TOLEDO, Ohio, July 6 (UPI) -- Chrysler faces a spate of sexual harassment suits filed by workers in its Toledo, Ohio, plant, papers show.

The bevy of harassment charges has prompted the Ohio Civil Rights Commission to probe whether an abusive environment exists at the company's Jeep complex in Toledo, the Detroit Free Press reported Sunday.

In the past four years, nine federal lawsuits have been filed in Toledo against Chrysler regarding sexual harassment at the Jeep plant, and 73 charges of civil rights violations have been filed with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission, the newspaper reported.

The 45 civil rights complaints filed in the last 18 months is more than five times the number of charges leveled against General Motors Corp.'s comparably sized operations in the Toledo region, the newspaper said.

Lawsuits, which also list the United Auto Workers as defendants, claim certain supervisors and UAW union leaders used their power to demand sex from female workers in exchange for letting the women keep their jobs or favorable work assignments.

Mike Palese, a Chrysler spokesman, said the automaker has a strict policy against sexual harassment.

"All allegations of harassment are fully investigated, and violations of the policy are punishable up to and including termination," he said.

© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Protesters, police clash at NATO summit Notable deaths of 2012 2012 Billboard Music Awards
The 137th Preakness Stakes Annual Solar eclipse occurs in U.S. Chen Guangcheng arrives in the U.S.
Additional Business News Stories
1 of 27
65th Annual Cannes International Film Festival
View Caption
A contortionist performs on the red-carpeted steps of the Palais des Festivals before the screening of the film "Holy Motors" during the 65th annual Cannes International Film Festival in Cannes, France on May 23, 2012. UPI/David Silpa
fark
Traffic congestion in U.S. metro areas has dropped 30%, easing motorist tension. Drivers now wave...
NYPD has suspect in custody who has admitted involvement in the disappearance of Etan Patz 33 years...
Photoshop this bogus bird
"I smoked with a cop," said a man who identified himself as Panda, and it was "some of the best...
Missing [✔] White [ ] Girl [✔] aaaaaand that's why the news is just now reporting that she disappeared...
What a 19-year old said after peeing in the back of a police car: C) I told you I had to go, you...