Four Women Sue Ford Alleging Sexual Harassment & Discrimination

Four women working in Chicago’s Ford Assembly plant came forward in January of 2015 and claim that sexual harassment is rampant at the plant assembling the Ford Taurus, Explorer and Lincoln MKS.

The allegations include:
– Inappropriate touching such as men slapping women on their behinds and groping; and
– Inappropriate comments

A survey by ABC recently revealed that only 56 percent of women predicted that if they reported sexual harassment, it would be handled fairly.

Retaliation:

The lawsuit alleges that labor supervisor, Terrence McClain, told the complainant Christie Van “I don’t know what they did where you came from, but you are at Ford Assembly now and you need to realize that things are run differently here. You need to forget the incident that happened. You need to let it go. Or else.”

Van also alleges that she was threatened by supervisors, removed from assignments and was suspended without pay after reporting the incidents. She also reported that she was assaulted in the parking lot after leaving work where she was pushed to the ground by an unknown assailant and was called a ‘black snitch bitch’ for complaining.

In addition to damages from Ford, the women have requested a federal monitor for five years at the plant to ensure the problems are fixed.

What do you think of these vicious allegations?

Emanuel Shirazi has worked with numerous clients involving sexual harassment and employer retaliation and can be contacted at (310) 400-5891.

“FordGlassHouse” by Dave Parker – Own work. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FordGlassHouse.jpg#/media/File:FordGlass