Suit Over Firing : 40-20-36 Settlement Takes Shape

An agreement has been reached in a civil rights complaint by a woman who claimed she was fired from Caterpillar Inc. because her 40-20-36 figure distracted male employees, officials said today.

Lawyers for Luanna Cashatt and Caterpillar reached the agreement a few days before the 7-year-old case was to come before the Iowa Civil Rights Commission last Friday, said Teresa Baustian, an Iowa assistant attorney general.

“It has been settled, but everything about it has been kept confidential,” said Baustian, who refused to disclose terms of the agreement. Commission spokesman Louis Martin also refused to discuss the case, other than to confirm that it was removed from the panel’s agenda last week.

Cashatt filed a complaint against the Peoria, Ill.,-based farm and construction equipment maker after she was fired from her job at CAT’s Davenport, Iowa, plant in February, 1980.

Cashatt contended she was fired because male workers were distracted by her 40-20-36 figure. She claimed she lost her job because that was easier for the company than disciplining male employees.

Caterpillar said Cashatt was fired because she could not handle her job.