Toyota President Steps Down Amid Lawsuit
May 9, 12:27 AM EDT
By YURI KAGEYAMA
AP Business Writer
TOKYO (AP) -- The president and CEO of
Toyota Motor North America, who was accused last week in a sexual harassment lawsuit, is leaving the post, the automaker said Tuesday.
In response, the world's No. 2 automaker chose its first American as president of the region's operations.
Hideaki Otaka, 65, who had been scheduled to leave his post in June, has voluntarily left earlier. He said his staying on went against the company's interests, but said he was innocent of the charges. Jim Press, now president of Toyota
Motor Sales USA, Toyota's U.S. sales unit, will replace Otaka as president.
Otaka was accused in a $190 million sexual harassment lawsuit filed last week in New York. In that lawsuit, Sayaka Kobayashi accused him of harassing her when she worked as his personal assistant, making repeated unwanted sexual advances after she began working for him last summer. She said the conduct continued until winter, when she was involuntarily transferred out of the job.
Toyota Motor Corp.'s U.S. unit named a new executive team, including Press and Yuki Funo, 59, now chairman of Toyota Motor Sales, as the new chairman and chief executive of Toyota Motor North America.
Toyota Motor North America is a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corp. It oversees Toyota's manufacturing and sales operations and 31,500 employees in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
The company, based in Toyota City, central Japan, said it will strengthen measures against harassment and discrimination, including thoroughly reviewing Toyota's practices and increasing training for senior executives to prevent misconduct.
Toyota Motor Corp. President Katsuaki Watanabe said the company hoped to build its reputation for excellence under the new North American team.
Kobayashi's lawsuit said Otaka manipulated her travel and work schedules so they were alone together, had her accompany him to social functions, and groped her at a Washington D.C., hotel and in New York's Central Park.
When she reported the inappropriate conduct to Toyota officials, they urged her to work it out privately with her married boss, the lawsuit says. Kobayashi, 42, said that as a result of her complaints she was removed from the job and told she could either leave the company or return to a former position in the planning department.
Toyota, which is also targeted in the lawsuit, has not commented on the lawsuit.
"While I expect to be fully vindicated in the recently filed litigation against Toyota and me, I have regretfully come to the conclusion that my continued service as president would serve as a distraction and ultimately not be in the interests of the company," Otaka said.
Japanese companies have often been castigated for their slow cultural changes regarding views on the role and advancement of women in the workplace.
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/sto...05-09-00-27-44
Only real bad part is that Jim Press is now in charge, and no one hate GM more then him. He wants GM blood, bad.
