Automaker Reaches
Settlement
in Sexual Harassment
Suit
By MICHELINE MAYNARD,
NYTimes on the Web, August 5, 2006
DETROIT, Aug. 4 — Toyota said
on Friday that it had reached a settlement in an embarrassing sexual harassment
lawsuit filed against a former top executive by another employee.
Both have since left the automaker.
The suit was filed in May by Sayaka Kobayashi, who sought nearly $200 million in
damages.
Ms. Kobayashi had worked as an assistant to Hideaki Otaka, who served until May
as president and chief executive of Toyota Motor North America, which oversees
the company’s manufacturing and financial operations from New York.
Terms of the settlement, announced in a joint statement by Toyota and lawyers
for Ms. Kobayashi, were not disclosed.
“We are very pleased to have resolved this matter in a way that all parties have
agreed is fair, appropriate and mutually satisfactory to all concerned,” the
statement said.
A spokesman for Toyota, Steven Curtis, declined to say whether the company paid
Ms. Kobayashi as part of the settlement.
Mr. Curtis said Ms. Kobayashi had “made a personal decision to leave Toyota to
pursue other interests.”
Mr. Otaka, who had been scheduled to be reassigned to a job in Japan, has
retired from Toyota, Mr. Curtis said, but declined to comment further.
A lawyer for Ms. Kobayashi could not be reached.
Mr. Otaka went on leave in May after Ms. Kobayashi filed her complaint in State
Superior Court in Manhattan. In the lawsuit, Ms. Kobayashi, 42, accused
Mr. Otaka, 64, of making repeated unwanted sexual advances.
She said Mr. Otaka arranged her travel and office schedules so that they would
be alone together, required her to accompany him to social functions and groped
her at a Washington hotel and in Central Park, which is near Toyota’s New York
offices.
When she complained, she said, she was involuntarily transferred to a position
in Toyota’s planning department, where she remained after the suit was filed.
Ms. Kobayashi sought at least $40 million in damages for emotional distress and
injury to her reputation, as well as $150 million in punitive damages.
Soon after the suit, Toyota formed a special task force, led by Alexis M.
Herman, a former secretary of labor for President Bill Clinton, to review
Toyota’s policies and procedures on harassment and discrimination. Ms.
Herman heads a diversity advisory board at Toyota.
Toyota, which has said it has a “zero tolerance” policy on sexual harassment,
said there would be additional training for senior executives and clearer
procedures for responding to accusations of misconduct.
The lawsuit was a black eye for Toyota at a critical juncture.
In April, it beat DaimlerChrysler for the first time to rank as the No. 3 auto
company in American sales. In July, Toyota upset Ford to take the No. 2
spot, behind General Motors.
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