Mitsubishi Appoints Bush Era Labor Secretary to Investigate Harassment

05/20/96

Mitsubishi recently announced that it will hire Lynn Martin to conduct an independent investigation into the issue of sexual harassment at a Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturing of America (MMMA) plant in Normal, Illinois. Lynn Martin has been a congresswoman and was Labor Secretary in President Bush's cabinet.

The move is Mitsubishi's latest response to what has been acknowledged as the largest sexual harassment suit brought against a company by the federal government. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the harassment lawsuit against the company in federal court in Peoria, Illinois, seeking back pay and compensatory punitive damages that could amount to as much as $300,000 each for up to 700 women who had been employed at the plant.

Mitsubishi's first response to the lawsuit was to pay workers at the MMMA plant to take a day off work and to demonstrate outside EEOC offices in Chicago on April 22. The company paid to transport the workers to Chicago and bought them lunch, in addition to giving them full pay for the day.

In response to Mitsubishi's suggestions that the hiring of Martin was a positive step toward dispensing rapidly with the company's harassment problems, EEOC Chairman Gilbert Casellas said that Mitsubishi's move in no way affects the pending litigation: "We have no information to suggest the likelihood of settlement in the forseeable future."

Martin's appointment also drew questions from Washington. Representative Patricia Schroder, D-Colo., called it "public relations and spin control." Representative Nita Lowey, D-N.Y. and the head of the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues, said Martin's appointment "does not let Mitsubishi off the hook ... it is still absolutely incumbent upon Mitsubishi to cooperate fully with the EEOC."

Paul Dever -- The Auto Channel