Mitsubishi Pays Employees to Protest Federal Sex Harassment Suit

04/23/96

Mitsubishi shut down their assembly lines in Normal, Illinois and paid thousands of workers to picket the offices of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Two weeks ago the EEOC sued Mitsubishi for maintaining an atmosphere that was hostile to women in their plant.

Workers who signed up for the trip to Chicago received their daily pay, transportation to Chicago, and lunch. Workers who chose not to participate were expected to show up for work at the closed down plant.

The class action suit filed by the EEOC was spurred by 29 lawsuits filed separately in Peoria, Illinois, by woman who worked for the automaker in 1994. Mitsubishi moved that a gag order be placed on the attorney representing the 29 women, but a Federal Judge denied the motion. The automaker requested the gag order after news stories surfaced about photographs that attorney Patricia Benassi said will be used as evidence against Mitsubishi.

Paul Dever -- The Auto Channel