The women say they were harassed sometimes while they communicated with aircraft

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Three female employees of Trans World Airlines are suing the airline for $120 million, alleging a manager in the control tower sexually harassed them while they attempted to do their jobs -- sometimes while they tried to communicate with moving aircraft or monitored the radar.

TWA officials say the allegations are "false and without merit."

But the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which also filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against TWA Wednesday, says eight witnesses have come forward and that the agency has reason to believe other women were harassed, too.

"In this case, this company clearly did not listen to the women who complained. And we wish to send a message to this company," said Elizabeth Grossman of the EEOC.

3 women say supervisor accosted them

The women worked at the control tower at John F. Kennedy International Airport. All three say a supervisor on the overnight shift routinely accosted them.

"He would brush up against me, he would pull my shirt out and look down it, he would pull it back so it was tight against my chest, he would grab my bottom," said Joanne Geskie, describing the supervisor's behavior.

Susan Congema recalled the time the same man splashed her with ketchup while she was directing a plane on a runway.

TWA considers "these charges to be false and without merit."

"When I turned to get up, he already had paper towels in his hand, and he leaned and grabbed my breasts and it was boiling water. I remember screaming," she said, adding that she suddenly realized he was rubbing his erect penis against her.

Veronica Saunders said the same supervisor once pulled open her blouse and bit her nipple. The continued abuse gave way to threats against her life, she said.

"I was getting fearful for my life. It was escalating. He started threatening me after that, physically. 'I'll throw you down a flight of stairs ... I'll throw you out the window,'" Saunders recalled.

Attorney calls it a "sick and disgusting" case

The attorney representing the three women said the offensive behavior was limited to verbal abuse until about a year ago when the man began groping the women and exposing himself to them.

"This is not a case of borderline harassment. This is the most sick and disgusting workplace case I have ever seen," said the attorney, Lizabeth Schalet.

TWA said it had investigated the charges thoroughly.

"We found no corroboration of the charges made by these individuals, and we consider the charges to be false and without merit," the company said.

"Trans World Airlines does not tolerate discrimination in any form, including sexual harassment," said TWA spokesman Jim Brown.

The allegations come at a particularly bad time for the financially troubled airline. Last week, a federal judge said TWA could be held liable for punitive damages in litigation involving the TWA Flight 800 crash that killed more than 200 people in July 1996.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

related reading	book search