A California jury last week handed down a $1.5 million verdict against CRST Expedited after a 24-day trial where a former driver trainee alleged the company allowed her driver trainer to sexually harass her.


According to published reports, Karen Shank was a 45-year-old trainee in 2005 when she went out on the road with trainer John Wilson for a 28-day training period. She quit after completing the training and in 2006 sued CRST, claiming the company failed to prevent unwanted touching and sexual comments from Wilson.

The jury ordered $1.17 million in punitive damages, three times the actual damages, finding the company and its trainer showed a conscious disregard for Shank's rights.

CRST says it plans to appeal the verdict, saying it was very disappointed in the jury's findings.

It's not the first time CRST Expedited has been targeted with a sexual harassment lawsuit involving trainers. In February 2010, a federal judge ordered the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to hand over $4.5 million in attorney fees to CRST Van Expedited, which was sued in 2007 by the federal agency for allowing male drivers to sexually harass female drivers in truck sleeper berths, when they were paired together for training purposes.

A judge rejected the EEOC's claims that CRST Van Expedited had tolerated sexual harassment by its employees and found that the EEOC owed CRST for its troubles because the agency didn't perform a proper investigation into the matter.

Sexual harassment in training situations is enough of a concern in the industry that the Women in Trucking Association earlier this year announced anti-harassment guidelines to its members, a 30-page document that focuses on employee training.