Mitsubishi Removes 2 Executives in Fallout

Mitsubishi Motor Corp. has replaced the top two Japanese executives of its U.S. auto operations as part of the continuing fallout from the sexual-harassment suits filed against the company’s manufacturing plant in Normal, Ill., company executives confirmed. The changes were announced just days after former Secretary of Labor Lynn Martin met in Tokyo with the parent corporation’s board of directors to discuss the progress being made in the effort to eliminate sexual-harassment problems at the Illinois plant. Martin was hired in May to recommend workplace changes after the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the biggest sexual-harassment suit in its history against the company. The lawsuit, filed in April 1996, charged that male employees and managers at the Illinois plant engaged in repeated acts of sexual harassment. The company has denied that the harassment was as widespread as the government alleges and is in negotiations to settle a separate private suit. A company source, who asked not to be identified, said the personnel changes had been made at the Illinois assembly plant out of concern that several key executives in the plant--both Japanese and American--were resisting recommendations by a Martin-led task force to prevent harassment inside the plant.