A former truck driving trainee has won a $1.5 million judgment in a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against CRST Expedited and its parent company, CRST International. The 45-year-old who had worked out of the company's California terminal claimed that she had been assigned to a driving trainer who had touched her inappropriately and made sexually suggestive comments, and that the company did nothing to deter the behavior.

According to the sexual harassment lawsuit, after a mandatory 28-day training session the woman trainee quit just one day after getting her first assignment. She said the emotional turmoil experienced during the training forced her leave and search for another line of work.

The court ruling, which included more than $1.1 million for punitive damages allowed under California's Fair Employment and Housing Act, found the trucking company failed to prevent a hostile working environment by allowing the trainer to make verbal and physical sexual advances.

The chief executive officer of CRST International said the company plans to appeal.

This lawsuit was also not the first time that CRST Expedited has come under scrutiny for failing to protect female truck drivers from other male employees. Even just last year the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had filed a class action lawsuit against the company for similar complaints, however, that case was dismissed due to the EEOC's legal procedures that were used.

However, since then, another claim has also been filed against the trucking firm by a married couple who had wanted to work together as a team for CRST Expedited. The pair filed a complaint that a trainer had made improper sexual advances toward the wife, and had also used degrading Mexican-American racial slurs.

According to the couple, after the two complained about the behaviors, CRST Expedited retaliated and the two were given bad driving assignments and bad dispatch assistance, which caused them to drive off-route and cost them money out of their own pockets.

CRST Expedited has yet to respond to the claims made in that lawsuit.

Source: Business 360, “Female driver wins $1.5 million harassment judgment against CRST Expedited,” David DeWitte, 9 May 2011