Sports
France Says Harassment Claims Were News To Him
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Published: June 12, 2008
CONCORD, N.C. - NASCAR chairman Brian France denied Wednesday that a former official complained to her supervisors about racial and sexual discrimination, claims she alleged led to her eventual firing.
Mauricia Grant filed a $225 million suit against NASCAR on Tuesday, alleging racial discrimination, sexual harassment and retaliatory termination. Grant, who is black, worked as a technical inspector for NASCAR's second-tier Nationwide Series.
France said Wednesday the detailed filing was the first NASCAR learned of her claims.
"The disappointing thing is she makes a lot of claims, none of them reported," France said. "The fact that it went on as she stated, for many months, but she never bothered to tell anyone at management what was going on - which is what our policy says - is very disappointing.
"We would have liked, if those type things were, in fact, going on, we would have loved to have done an investigation and a review of such an allegation."
France said NASCAR will review Grant's claims, which included 23 specific incidents of alleged sexual harassment and 34 specific incidents of alleged racial and gender discrimination she says began in January 2005 and lasted through her October 2007 firing.
NASCAR will not disclose why Grant was fired late in the 2007 season.
Grant said she followed the chain of command but stopped short of taking it to human resources when series director Joe Balash failed to address her concerns.
Grant claims two weeks after she complained to Balash, she received a call from the human resources director reprimanding her for her behavior.
"I expected Joe Balash to address and solve these problems. I never expected I would have to take it higher than that," she said. "In my three seasons there, that was the first time I complained, and then two weeks later - the shock of getting a call from HR - it was so obvious retaliation."
Mike Wilford, a former NASCAR official named in the suit who has since left NASCAR, told The Associated Press he was present for many of the incidents listed in the suit and said Grant was a willing participant in much of the behavior and had "twisted" the versions to her benefit.
On Wednesday, France e-mailed all NASCAR employees, emphasizing the organization's zero-tolerance policy for harassment of any kind.
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