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March 27, 2000 9:30 AM, EST

Eliminating sexual harassment in the workplace is a joint goal of the Motor Freight Carriers Association and the Teamsters as they develop an industrywide training program, aided by a $100,000 grant from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.

The program could be developed as soon as this fall. A working group met March 22 to discuss the issue, which has gained prominence of late inside and outside of the trucking world.

In 1999, a Yellow Freight System employee was awarded $1.75 million in a sexual harassment lawsuit. The carrier is appealing the jury verdict, and expects the process to take most of this year, the company said on March 21.

The latest workplace statistics from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission show that in 1995, the rate of sexual harassment complaints was 31 for every 100,000 people in trucking, compared with the general service industry figure of 17 complaints for every 100,000 people, said Elisabeth Barna, communications director at MFCA.

For the full story, see the Mar. 27 print edition of Transport Topics. .