Troubled Automaker Recalls Spokesman Mitsubishi’s Point Man In Sexual Harassment Fallout Replaced

The spokesman who led Mitsubishi’s aggressive counterattack to a federal sexual harassment lawsuit was dropped Thursday as the company’s public voice.

Gary Shultz will continue as general counsel and manager of public relations for Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturing of America Inc., based in Normal. But someone else will handle interviews with reporters.

The company said the move was not punishment for a strategy that many call a failure. Instead, the company said, it lets Shultz focus on his roles as a company lawyer and manager.

Shultz did not return telephone calls seeking comment. He has been invisible during Mitsubishi’s softening of its response to the lawsuit, including its hiring former U.S. Labor Secretary Lynn Martin to review personnel policies and suggest improvements.

Shultz had accused the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission of election-year politics in targeting Mitsubishi last month.

The EEOC lawsuit and a similar private lawsuit allege that hundreds of female employees were fondled, pressured to have sex and subjected to obscene remarks and lewd graffiti.

Shultz met with factory workers and cautioned that the allegations could hurt sales and affect jobs at the Mitsubishi Motors Corp. subsidiary.

He set up telephone banks so workers could call government officials. The company also shut down production and rented 59 buses so thousands of workers could rally outside the EEOC’s Chicago office.

That was seen by some as a staged attempt to intimidate the EEOC. Congresswomen held a news conference to condemn the company and Jesse Jackson teamed with the National Organization for Women to call for a boycott.

A Business Week commentary singled Shultz out as an example of Japanese companies hiring unqualified American executives.