Ford Motor Company has agreed to pay more than $7.5-million to female workers who experienced sexual and racial harassment in two Chicago-area plants.

It's an out-of-court settlement with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and is the fourth largest out-of-court settlement involving harassment charges.

This settlement has an important impact on you, your business or organization, and on your managers and supervisors. That's because you can expect the EEOC to apply the standards set in this Ford settlement to all employers who get into trouble with harassment.

In addition to the multi-million-dollar payout, Ford agreed to adopt new personnel policies and to train workers to deal with sexual harassment. The cost for this training could run to $10-million.

Ford also is adopting a strict discipline policy to make sure supervisors abide by and enforce the firm's policies on preventing sexual and racial harassment. A key measure for a supervisor's promotion will be "commitment to equal employment opportunity." Supervisors who harass employees or who ignore on-the-job harassment will forfeit bonuses, promotions and possibly their jobs.

EEOC Chairman Ida L. Castro, noting the Ford settlement, said: "We hope to send a message to all employees. Please come forward to the EEOC. We will make sure your rights are enforced."

The message to your employees is: Run, don't walk, to the EEOC. So what is the message, from the Ford experience, to employers, managers and supervisors? The message to workplace leaders has to be: If you want to prevent harassment charges...and have a defense against them...run, don't walk, to apply these settlement standards in your workplace.

Coupled with the 1998 Supreme Court decisions and the 1999 EEOC guidelines setting standards that apply to all illegal harassment...this Ford settlement will mean that EEOC will be applying the Ford standards to all employers covered by civil rights, anti-harassment and anti-discrimination laws.

The Ford settlement means:

1. It's not enough to have anti-harassment, anti-discrimination statements posted and in a handbook. That's only the first step.
2. You must actively inform your employees, managers, supervisors and all members or management about your policy, their rights, and their obligations.
3. You must impress on managers and supervisors their obligation to refrain from harassing and discriminatory behavior, to prevent harassing and discriminatory behavior, and to investigate complaints.
4. Your managers and supervisors must communicate to employees that they agree with, believe in, and will enforce your anti-harassment, anti-discrimination policies.
5. You must discipline and even terminate managers, supervisors and employees who ignore or violate your policies.

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