EXTRA CONTENT: Woodbine woman settles lawsuit with local factory

See the original lawsuit and response by clicking here.

A Whitley County woman who claims she was discriminated against and then fired by a local auto parts manufacturer because she suffered an injury on the job has settled a year-old lawsuit against the company.

According to federal court records, Dorothy Trosper, a resident of Woodbine, and Aisin Automotive Casting located in Lily agreed to a pre-trial settlement earlier this month. Trosper worked at Aisin from Jan. 27 2002 until she was fired by the company June 5, 2006. She was an "off-line parts check" at the manufacturing plant.

In her lawsuit, Trosper claimed that she suffered a work-related injury to her right ear due to "required use of ear plugs." She made a claim under the Kentucky Workers Compensation Act against the company and was forced to miss some work to have her injury treated. Attorneys for Trosper say she was "harassed, coerced, fired and discriminated against" because of her injury and claim. The lawsuit said she returned to work with medical restrictions and required accommodations, but that Aisin made her pay for the equipment necessary to perform her job.

The lawsuit also accuses Aisin of firing her in retaliation for making a Workers Compensation claim, and because of her age. She was 46 years old when she was fired. Allegedly, a plant supervisor told her "that he did not believe women should be doing the job she was doing." She reported the incident but she claims nothing was done about it.

Also, Trosper said in the lawsuit she was denied certain training and was told she could not have bathroom, break or eating privileges.

The lawsuit also claims that a factor in her dismissal was the fact that she notified supervisors of incomplete "part checks" being signed off on.

The terms of the settlement were not publicly disclosed. Both sides agreed to pay their own expenses involved with the case.
The case was set to go to trial in January of 2010.