Toyota's N. America boss quits over sexual harassment suit

AFP/Yahoo ^ | Tuesday May 9

[ncountylee]

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's Toyota Motor Corp said the head of its fast-growing North American operations has agreed to step down following a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by his assistant.

Hideaki Otaka, president and chief executive of Toyota Motor North America, denies the allegations but agreed to bring forward his departure date to Monday from the end of June, the world's number two automaker announced.

"At Toyota, we have zero tolerance for sexual harassment or discrimination of any kind," Toyota Motor Corp president Katsuaki Watanabe said in a statement issued late Monday.

Yuki Funo, 59, currently head of Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc, is to become chairman and chief executive of the entire North American subsidiary.

Jim Press, also 59, now president and chief operating officer of Toyota Motor Sales, will become the first American president of Toyota's North American unit.

Toyota said it would set up a special task forced headed by Alexis Herman, a former US Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton, to review its policies against harassment and discrimination.

"We are committed to making all necessary and appropriate improvements in our policies and practices to fulfill our core principles of respect for people and continuous improvement," Toyota president Watanabe said.

snip

Toyota said that all executives would now undergo a special training program to enable them "to better recognize, prevent and handle any instances of inappropriate behavior."

[Ronin]

Toyota's N. America boss quits over sexual harassment suit

Translation. He is being recalled to Japan where he will be quietly slipped into the board of directors of one of their many subsidiary companies.

[DTogo]

Toyota said it would set up a special task forced headed by Alexis Herman, a former US Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton, to review its policies against harassment and discrimination.

Any female working under Bill Clinton should be an expert in sexual harassment.

FYI for some: seku-hara is the Japanized term for sexual harassment.

Japan * ping * (kono risuto ni hairitai ka detai wo shirasete kudasai : let me know if you want on or off this list)

[martin_fierro]

Toyota said it would set up a special task forced headed by Alexis Herman, a former US Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton, to review its policies against harassment and discrimination.

Wotta laff.

[nathanbedford]

Let's see, a male Japanese executive and his company are sued by a female Japanese subordinate executive for $190 million alleging behavior that I presume is unremarkable within the Japanese culture. But these two happen to be working in America so American law applies.

What is truly strange is that the American law, quite apart for being unrepresentative of Japanese culture, is also unrepresentative of American culture. It is an artificial distortion of the American culture, and a distortion foisted upon us by the feminist movement against which no politically incorrect voice could dare to have been raised. For millennia men and women have waged their sexual warfare unaided by the guidance of the likes of Alexis Herman but now the entire Toyota Corp.in America, both Japanese and American alike, must submit itself to the brainwashing of the Femi-Nazis.

What heinous acts did this Japanese executives commit? The article tells us that he (1) invited her on business trek's, lunches, and walks in the park. (2) by inference, he solicited her for sex which she declined. (3) "the Corporation" evidently advised her that the complaint should be alleged to have been brought because of her boyfriend.

I read no allegation that she was denied promotion or otherwise mistreated. Where in the hell is the harm?

Now thousands and thousands of people must submit themselves to lectures by Alexis Herman and her subordinates, a form of extortion not unlike that committed by Jesse Jackson over race issues, in which these left wing nut jobs get to define the meaning of American culture because we have by legislation decreed that it shall be so.

[11th_VA]

OK, I'll post her picture, since no one else will ...

[taxesareforever]

"At Toyota, we have zero tolerance for sexual harassment or discrimination of any kind,"

Ah, the ole "zero tolerance". They all be saints except for one.

[Clemenza]

(Knocking ring on desk) Great post!

[justche]

Previous stories indicated gropes - and making it difficult to leave rooms, requiring her to travel with him etc.

I don't think "there's no harm" when repeated sexual overtures are made by a boss to a subordinate. No means no, and wanting to keep a prestigious position that was obtained because of high end skills shouldn't require putting up with "sexual warfare".


(Do I agree it was an offense worth $190 million - probably not - but it'll likely get settled for much less. What's that addage...you play you pay??)

[nathanbedford]

Do you have a citation for this new version of the facts?

My view is that attempts to codify politness i.e. the avoidance of "sexual warfare" by thought police subjecting employees to a highly subjective notion of propriety is tyranny. I am not talking about groping or actual loss of economic advantage - or even threats thereof- but the exaulting of subjective sensibilities to the level of $190M and mass indoctrination represents not progress but something that would please MAO.

[6SJ7]

That photo looks like the Korean android announced last week.

[mkjessup]

That photo looks like the Korean android announced last week.

That is really desperate. Harassing an android? The guy couldn't call an escort service? This story just keeps on getting more and more bizarre.

[dsc]

"a prestigious position that was obtained because of high end skills"

Can you say, "affirmative action quota?"

[weegee]

Mr. Lippman: It's come to my attention that you and the cleaning woman have engaged in sexual intercourse on the desk in your office. Is that correct?

George Costanza: Who said that?

Mr. Lippman: She did.

George Costanza: [pause] Was that wrong? Should I not have done that? I tell you, I gotta plead ignorence on this thing, because if anyone had said anything to me at all when I first started here that that sort of thing is frowned upon... you know, cause I've worked in a lot of offices, and I tell you, people do that all the time.

[weegee]

A boss having sex with his assistant? Is there anything wrong with that?

It's just sex....

Oh, I guess since he didn't set the agenda on abortion, it is about MORE than just sex. Funny how the Feminazis feel about that.

[weegee]

"Diversity training" in corporations is nothing but political re-education. Force the employees to repeat the liberal mantra. Demand that employees return their United Way donor cards. And profits are squandered donating to liberal organizations (not good for employees nor shareholders).

And yet the left insists that corporations represent conservatives because they have a lot of money.

[Biblebelter]

This is why Toyota is a winning company. Those who serve the company put it first. He stepped down rather than embarrass the company. The Democrat Party had the Presidency and congress when the Rapist in Chief took the oval office, but he would not step down and sent out his subordinates to lie for him. This in effect gave the Repubicans the Presidency and congress, a gift they have not put to much effect.

[sushiman]

Not bad , but just a tad above average in Japan ...

[dsc]

"This is why Toyota is a winning company. Those who serve the company put it first."

Since I got back to the states, I have driven several American vans. I hate it like poison, but Toyota vans are superior in every particular.

[justche]

Oh please - it was an administrative position not a management position - admin jobs are not "quota" jobs.

[The South Texan]

Paging all of the Toyota bashers. Here's a post for you!

[justche]

It was in the NY Post last week or the week before.


You sure use a lot of words to try to explain that sexual harassment is ok as long as it meets certain acceptable criteria.

It's NOT ok - I don't think it's worth 190 million dollars, but if that's what it takes to make it stop so be it.

[dsc]

"Oh please - it was an administrative position not a management position - admin jobs are not "quota" jobs."

You're that well acquainted with the internal workings of Japanese companies, are you?

Besides, if it was an "administrative position," then "high-order skills" don't enter into the picture.

[justche]

and you're the authority on this because????

[dsc]

I lived in Japan for 20 years, worked at 3 Japanese companies, and observed many others in the course of business dealings.

[justche]

Well I haven't lived in Japan -I have worked for a Japanese company here in the states. There were a lot of things I didn't like about the company, but the admins who worked for the upper management team had great administrative skills - and they were hired for those skills.

But if it makes you feel better to malign this particular woman and insinuate that she was hired for other people -- you just feel free to do so.

[nathanbedford]

I don't think it's worth 190 million dollars, but if that's what it takes to make it stop[sexual harassment] so be it

And if it takes loss of your liberty, is it then worth it? If it costs you your first amendment, is it then worth it? It takes more than $190 million, it takes more from us than just dollars.

And if it is worth so much, I am sure you can define it, or you wouldn't be willing to part with so much, and impose so much on others, if you could not define it clearly.

The reason so many words have to be used (by others, I always use exactly the amount I need for my purposes) is because it is a runaway monster of subjectivism and political correctness without standards and that is why it is so dangerous. When it merely incorporates other well established torts in the law like interferrence with prospective economic advantage, false arrest, physical touching etc. (which seem adequate to handle the harassment facts you outlined in your previous post) it adheres to some objective standards. But when it departs from the common law, it becomes impossible to define or manage on an objective level.

[dsc]

"but the admins who worked for the upper management team had great administrative skills - and they were hired for those skills."

If you're talking about Japanese women, you don't have the first foggiest notion what their admin skills were like. That said, admin skills are not "high order" skills.

"But if it makes you feel better to malign this particular woman and insinuate that she was hired for other people -- you just feel free to do so."

I'm not "insinuating" anything; I'm saying it, flat out. The Japanese pretend to have bought into the feminazi agenda, but they still understand that a man's contribution to the company is always going to be greater than a woman's, mutatis mutandis.

[justche]

If you're talking about Japanese women, you don't have the first foggiest notion what their admin skills were like.
____________
Since I hired some of those Japanese and other admins, I most certainly do have the foggiest of notions of what their skills were. But I'm not going to keep on with someone who's "arriven" in Boise. You obviously know all -

[AndrewC]

OK, I'll post her picture, since no one else will ...

Well, to even things out...

[dsc]

"Since I hired some of those Japanese"

You hired Japanese employees for a Japanese company. And I'm Emperor Norton.

"But I'm not going to keep on with someone who's "arriven" in Boise. You obviously know all -"

Well, I know enough to tell when somebody is having a bit of fun with words. But then, a person has to have a sense of humor for that.

[skinkinthegrass]

Alexis Herman, a former US Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton, to review its policies against harassment and discrimination.

HA! HA! LOL! :D

I know, It's what you do.....is this a Joke? ....a Righteous Klintoon Staffer on a sexual harassment panel.

thanks for the ping. Dtogo

[DTogo]

You hired Japanese employees for a Japanese company. And I'm Emperor Norton.

HA! HA!

[GATOR NAVY]

FYI for some: seku-hara is the Japanized term for sexual harassment.

That's what my wife says when I grab her ass ;-)