Jury Says FedEx Must Pay $2.3 Million

A California jury awarded $2.3 million against FedEx Corp. on Tuesday for failing to stop an employee from sexually harassing two female co-workers.

The jury in Santa Clara County told Memphis, Tenn.-based FedEx to pay each of the women $1 million in punitive damages. The figure is in addition to $328,000 the jury awarded last week as compensation to the women. FedEx said it would appeal.

One woman said the male co-worker had an “obsessive crush” on her, and the other woman said the co-worker harassed her for persuading the first woman not to go out with him, the women’s lawyer said. The women complained to management, which failed to do enough to protect them from the co-worker, their lawyer has said.

“This verdict clearly sends a message to corporate America that we will not tolerate sexual abuse in the workplace,” John Winer, the lawyer for the women, said in a statement. “In addition, workers should not be intimidated by companies that turn their backs on this type of illegal behavior.”

FedEx spokeswoman Sandra Munoz said the company believed there was “no basis for this claim and no basis for the award of damages.”

“We work hard to guard against a hostile work environment, and we did take decisive steps to prevent further contact between the employees involved,” Munoz said.

The woman who said she was the object of the co-worker’s obsession worked in a document-sorting area from November 1999 until she quit in January 2003 because of the working conditions, Winer said.

She was awarded $298,000 in compensatory damages, and the other woman was awarded $30,000.

FedEx shares rose 7 cents to $95.72 on the New York Stock Exchange. FedEx is the nation’s second-biggest package-delivery company.