Black Female Ford Employee to Get Race, Sexual Harassment Trial

Ford Motor Co. will face trial on a process coach’s claims she was subjected to a hostile environment because she’s Black and a woman based on evidence that it may have been on notice of the harassment.

The ruling Wednesday by the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan illustrates that the level of notice an employer must have before it can be potentially liable for workplace sexual abuse varies depending on the claim asserted. Here, DeAnna Johnson raised jury issues on her federal race-based, and state law sex-based, hostile environment claims, but Ford was entitled to summary ...