Women complain of lack of response from KBR to sexual assault

Women complain of lack of response from KBR to sexual assault reports
Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, February 14, 2008


Mary Beth Kineston, an Ohio resident who went to Iraq to drive trucks, thought she had endured the worst when her supply convoy was ambushed in April 2004, The New York Times reported Wednesday. After car bombs exploded and insurgents began firing on the road between Baghdad and Balad, she and other military contractors were saved only when Army Black Hawk helicopters arrived.

But not long after the ambush, Kineston told the Times, she was sexually assaulted by another driver, who remained on the job, at least temporarily, even after she reported the episode to KBR, the military contractor that employed the drivers.

Later, she said, she was groped by a second KBR worker. After complaining to the company about the threats and harassments endured by female employees in Iraq, she was fired, the Times wrote.

Kineston is among a number of American women who have reported that they were sexually assaulted by co-workers while working as contractors in Iraq but who now find themselves in legal limbo, unable to seek justice or significant compensation, the paper reported.
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http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=52465

When did rape stop being a crime? When it's Halliburton

Sex Assault Suit Vs. Halliburton Killed
Alleged Sexual Assault Victim's Case Forced Into Secretive Arbitration

By MADDY SAUER and JUSTIN ROOD
Feb. 6, 2008

A mother of five who says she was sexually harassed and assaulted while working for Halliburton/KBR in Iraq is headed for a secretive arbitration process rather than being able to present her case in open court.

A judge in Texas has ruled that Tracy Barker's case will be heard in arbitration, according to the terms of her initial employment contract.

Barker says that while in Iraq she was constantly propositioned by her superior, threatened and isolated after she reported an incident of sexual assault.

Barker's attorneys had argued that Halliburton/KBR had created a "boys will be boys" atmosphere at their camps and that sort of condition is not the type of dispute that she could have expected to be within the scope of an arbitration provision.

District Judge Gray Miller, however, wrote in his order that "whether it is wise to send this type of claim to arbitration is not a question for this court to decide."

"Sadly," wrote Judge Miller, "sexual harassment, up to and including sexual assault, is a reality in today's workplace."

Barker says it was a reality at Halliburton/KBR. From the moment she arrived at the Halliburton/KBR camp in Basra, Iraq, she says she was treated like a sex object.
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http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4249898&page=1

When did this stop being a crime? How can any judge in their right mind say it's a matter of arbitration?

KBR employee deals with wounds from Iraq

Growing list of worries

War has already disrupted Corinth couple’s lives; now, their house is on the line

07:23 AM CST on Friday, January


By Peggy Heinkel-Wolfe / Staff Writer

CORINTH — As Denton County foreclosures hit another high watermark, Eddie and Brenda Larkin have found themselves among more than 500 new families caught in the maelstrom.

more than 500 new families caught in the maelstrom.


A lot has happened since Eddie Larkin, 41, came home from Iraq nearly two years ago, and much of it hasn’t been good, he says.

The truck driver narrowly escaped his rig after it hit an improvised explosive device in April 2005. It took time to realize that he survived the explosion with much more than a gash on his head and the door handle he clutched as he ran through fire.

Now, Brenda Larkin, who was recently laid off from her job in the mortgage industry, said the couple is doing what they can to stave off foreclosure themselves. But it’s tough, since they first financed their new home with an adjustable-rate mortgage.

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