Multimillion dollar awards to plaintiffs in sexual harassment cases are on the rise, forcing large corporations to sit up and take note. In 1995, a jury ordered Wal-Mart to pay a plaintiff $50 million in damages, the largest award to date in a sexual harassment suit. And last April, in what could be one of the largest harassment suits on record, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a suit against Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturing of America. With the current trend, the automaker could find itself out of a large sum of money.
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PAYING THE PRICE FOR HARASSMENT |
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| Since the early ’90s, sexual harassment charges filed with the EEOC have more than doubled, while damages paid to plaintiffs have more than tripled |
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Year |
Cases Filed |
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1990 |
6,127 |
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1991 |
6,883 |
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1992 |
10,532 |
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1993 |
11,908 |
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1994 |
14,420 |
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1995 |
15,549 |
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1996 |
15,342* |
| * Premilinary figures Source: Source:Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 1996 |
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MONEY AWARDED |
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| Year | Award |
| 1990 | $7.7 million |
| 1991 | $7.1 million |
| 1992 | $12.7 million |
| 1993 | $25.1 million |
| 1994 | $22.5 million |
| 1995 | $24.8 million |
| 1996 | $27.8 million |
| * Premilinary figures Source: Source:Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 1996 |
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ARE COMPANIES DOING ENOUGH? |
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How firms deal with sexual harassment claims, according to a recent survey |
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| Offender reprimanded: | 35.1% |
| Mediation for parties: | 35.0% |
| Accuser dismissed: | 16.0% |
| Allegation dismissed: | 15.0% |
| Accuser transferred: | 3.9% |
| Offender transferred: | 3.0% |
| (Percentages do not add up to 100%) Source: Sexual Harassment: Policies and Procedures, American Management Association, New York, 1996 |
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