OXNARD : Packinghouse Had Bias in Hiring, Judge Rules

Employers at Oxnard Lemon Co. systematically refused to hire women over a three-year period ending the year the company was sued for sexual discrimination, a federal judge ruled in a partial judgment.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs said Wednesday the 1991 lawsuit against the fruit-packing firm would continue Sept. 21 to determine the fairness of the company’s promotions policy and potential damages.

“A ruling of this type is fairly unusual,” said Valeriano Saucedo, who is representing seven women claiming sexual discrimination. “You have to have very clear proof that there is no question they engaged in discrimination in hiring.”

The ruling by U.S. District Judge David D. Kenyon declares that “men who made application . . . were eventually hired for general floor jobs while no women ever were.”

Saucedo won a $550,000 settlement from the Saticoy Lemon Assn. in a similar case earlier in 1991.

“Packinghouses in California should realize that they must hire women as well as men for these jobs,” he said in a prepared statement. “If they don’t, they are likely to be sued.”

An attorney representing the Oxnard Lemon Co. said Wednesday that he was disappointed in Kenyon’s ruling.

“We contend the plaintiff didn’t show in the motion for summary judgment that any women applied for general labor jobs,” William S. Marrs said. “The company does maintain that it has never discriminated against women in hiring.”

Saucedo is representing two other Oxnard women in a third lawsuit alleging that the Dole Food Co. engaged in discriminatory hiring and promotion practices.