Ford Agrees to Settlement in Sex Harassment Suit

Ford Motor Co. and a female employee who complained of sexual harassment have agreed to settle the case, a company spokeswoman said Thursday.

Ford also agreed to give managers more training to prevent similar harassment, Ford spokeswoman Anne Marie Gattari said.

The settlement -- the amount wasn’t disclosed -- between Ford and Jill Nabozny, an employee at its Dearborn stamping plant, requires the approval of a federal judge.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which filed a complaint in Nabozny’s case last week, welcomed news of the agreement.

“We always try to encourage settlements at all stages of the process,” EEOC spokesman David Grinberg said in Washington.

Nabozny said that she was repeatedly harassed by two male co-workers since at least August 2000.

“She was subjected to unwelcome sexual talk, innuendoes, jokes, touching, staring, whistling and intimidation,” the EEOC complaint said.

One worker said he wanted to take Nabozny and two other female co-workers to a boxcar in the back of the building for a sexual encounter, according to the complaint.

The same co-worker fashioned a phallic object out of welding materials and put it at Nabozny’s work station, the complaint alleged.

“Despite knowledge of the harassment, [Ford] failed to take prompt and effective action to correct and prevent the harassment,” the EEOC said.

Gattari said Ford has transferred at least one of the employees accused of the sexual harassment.

In August, a Wayne County judge dismissed another sexual harassment lawsuit against Ford because the plaintiff illegally generated publicity that could have influenced potential jurors.