Nascar being sued...

[south jersey girl]

Found this on Comcast.net...

http://www.comcast.net/articles/sports-general/20080610/NASCAR-Harassment.Lawsuit/

The suit is being brought by a former Nationwide technical inspector, who the suit alleges, was the victim of sexual harrassment and racial discrimination.  A bit disturbing if true. 

[CodeBlueEMT]

 Ouch. I was shocked reading the allegations up until the last paragraph.

 Whatever happened with the lawsuit filed by the former transport driver? He was basically claiming racial harassment and discrimination.

 Shayne

[Chris]

The two lawsuits differ greatly IMO.
The transport driver had claims he was discriminated against,.. and NASCAR prominsed him a job as a "settlement".  I read someplace they even offered him a job, but he rejected it.  Anyway he wasn't "happy" with what they offered (I got the impression 'it wasn't good enough' in his eyes)... so he was still disgruntled and sued.

Now this case with the lady suing NASCAR... I see two different things.
One is this.. I can see her point.  I was in the pits and I was it.  It's a "old boys" network, and no women there are 'treated" like women.  You are a woman working a "mans" job,... so you shouldn't really expect people to treat you like a woman, or to talk like there are women present.  As far as the racist stuff.  She might have a leg to stand on there... BUt then again I have saw guys do it to everyone,.. so it's kinda "normal'... right or wrong.

Now on the other hand.  Where a court is gonna work "against" her is this.  She WAITED until she got fired to sue.  It just looks like sour grapes now.  IF she had QUIT and sued, her case would of looked more "ligitimate".  But when she sticks it out all the while drawing a paycheck,... court is gonna figure 'it must not of been so bad'.... ONLY AFTER she got fired and no money was coming in did she decide it was so bad to sue over.

IMO I think she's gonna have a hard case to win.

[Busch Babe 899]

Sadly, she has so much detail there, I bet some of it at least is true. Nascar may support diversity, but that doesn't mean there aren't a few throwback idjits there who would do this sort of thing...Anyone see North Country? A woman in a traditional male-dominated area can be harrassed easily, and the guys will back up their buddies....it's sad that this sort of thing still happens today.

Someone on another board said "If this was going on, why did she wait until she was fired to file a suit?"...well, it says she did report this activity to her higher-ups, sounds like to no result, and likely she didn't want to lose her job. Had she filed suit as an employee, you KNOW she would have been out...if even a bit of it is true, it sounds to me like a few rotten apples (we all know THOSE people still exist today ) made her life miserable, but she tried to make the best of it, because she loved her job...then someone went behind her back with a campaign to get her fired. I know well what THAT is like, having had my contract not-renewed at one hospital, despite never having a complaint from my patients, who routinely loved me (as did the majority of my coworkers)...someone who DIDN'T like me started tabulating little things I did wrong (and no-one's perfect...these were things that any one of my fellow employees might have done wrong, likely did at one time or another, we nurses are only human) and voila...my contract wasn't renewed. Their loss.

[KurtBuschFan]

Everyone knows there are three sides to every story...each side plus what actually happened.  If the details that have come out on this are true, it's very disturbing to see something like this in a sport that loves its diversity program.  I don't care if it's a woman in a "man's" job.  A job is a job, and you are expected to conduct yourself in a way that is appropriate and would speak well of your employer....period.  If you don't you face the consequences.

[CodeBlueEMT]

 Here's the filing:

 http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0610082nascar1.html

 

[KurtBuschFan]

Wow...Joe Balash named as an offender in one of the racist comments...there must be some truth to it or there probably wouldn't be specific naming.

[south jersey girl]

well, who could she complain to when the director and assistant director were part of the offenders..and it looks like everytime she did complained, it only got worse

I work with a lot of guys, mostly guys, and we are not very politically correct in our office.  We sometimes tend to push the boudaries...but no one has ever exposed himself.  There are lines you just don't cross

[KurtBuschFan]

The more I read of the filing, the more disgusted I got.  There's no excuse for some of the things that were said...period.

[south jersey girl]

story from Nascar.com w/ Brian France's comments

CONCORD, N.C. -- Brian France, chairman and CEO of NASCAR, said Wednesday that a former employee who has filed a lawsuit against the organization did not follow clear-cut company guidelines that should have resolved any complaints she had about her co-workers.

Maurcia Grant, who is black, filed a $225 million lawsuit against NASCAR on June 10, alleging racial and sexual discrimination, sexual harassment and wrongful termination. She was employed by NASCAR as a technical inspector responsible for certifying cars in the Nationwide Series from January 2005 through October 2007, when NASCAR terminated her employment, citing poor work performance (read more).

Speaking very briefly about the matter after an unrelated news conference to announce the partnership between Boston Ventures and Petty Enterprises at Lowe's Motor Speedway, France said that Grant had avenues to vent her complaints within the NASCAR organization.

"She didn't do that, and that's what every employee in NASCAR is instructed to do if they think they're in a situation of discrimination or harassment or whatever it might be," France said. "She just didn't do that -- and in fact has now filed a lawsuit as remedy to this problem. You know, we'll deal with that as well. And that's where we are at this time."

France said he did not see the lawsuit coming. "I knew about it this week when the suit was filed," France said.

France added that because Grant did not follow company policy about filing complaints, it was difficult for her superiors to know if she was upset about anything, and to weigh the validity of the accusations she eventually set forth in the lawsuit.

"Again, our policy is such that it's very clear," France said. "We talk to employees all the time about making sure the work environment is a good one. And if it's not, if there are any problems, that they have a very clear path to get it solved. This is just inconsistent with anything we would tolerate in NASCAR. Anything."

In the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Grant lists 23 specific incidents of alleged sexual harassment and 34 specific incidents of alleged racial and gender discrimination, beginning with her hiring by NASCAR in January 2005 through her termination.

Grant also alleged she repeatedly attempted to communicate to her superiors about many of the incidents and her subsequent concerns, only to be rebuffed each time.



ummm...didn't she complain to the N'wide series director...and wasn't he one of the offenders?

[CodeBlueEMT]

 Remember, these are allegations, not facts. If there's any truth to what she's saying, shame on NASCAR.

 Shayne

[Chris]

Remember, these are allegations, not facts. If there's any truth to what she's saying, shame on NASCAR.

 Shayne

Well let me throw in my two cents here...
First of all Shayne is correct... these are ONLY allegations.
After working in the pits for a couple years in the NASCAR series... (but like I said in my first post) there is a "good old boys" system in nascar.  That goes for the officials too.  By and large it's much like things were 40 years ago.    Bawdy, racial, sexual,...

From what I saw while I was working in the pits,.. thats the way it was.  I'm entirely convinced these things happened to this gal.  Just like in grade school.  The "odd" person is always the one picked out for ridicule.
I know this "Jason Brownlow" mentioned in the alligations.  He is a guy here also from my hometown, and I worked with him at Lanier Speedway as an official.  This sounds like some things he would do.
Obviously he isn't a minor player because his name only came up once or twice, while a few people came up over and over again.
Obviously the series director didn't want to do anything, and sides with the offenders.  Something else (in typical NASCAR thinking) is he feels NASCAR is above the law.  They are an island unto themselves, and can do anything they want. I HOPE she is able to win her case.
She has two things in her favor.  One- she is a woman.  Two- she is black.  (also looks like she kept pretty good logs if she has any of these things is writing)

Now her problem still is she waited until she was FIRED to file the law suit.  Still looks like sour grapes.
Second is she is on an island.  She has names ALL the people she worked with in the law suit.  Does anyone think any of these people she named in this law suit are going to come and side WITH HER.  Highly unlikely.
Her BEST shot is if she can get these other two gals who were fired previously (supposedly for the same reasons) to come and testify on her behalf.   Also get Wayne Alton to testify for her.  I know him personally and he is a standup kinda guy.  He is the one that ask me reapedly to come and be an official for him...  Even though he is the head of the CTS series I kinda think he might do the right thing.
If she can get those three folks to testify on her behalf,.. then I think she has a good shot of winning... if not, she's got no case.

Besides I think if those two gals WOULD come and testify for this gal with the suit... IF she wins,... it hasn't been too long that the statute of limitations has run out that THEY couldn't now sue NASCAR also.
If THIS gals wins,.. they could now sue NASCAR based on their 'same' situations,.. and NASCAR would KNOW they were going to lose those also.  Chances are they would settle out of court.

[Chris]

NNS officials suspended
this is the latest

Two officials named in a $225 million racial discrimination and sexual harassment lawsuit against NASCAR have been placed on administrative leave for violating company policy, The Associated Press has learned. The officials, who were not immediately identified, were sent home from Kentucky Speedway on Friday evening, a person familiar with the NASCAR investigation told the AP. The person requested anonymity because NASCAR's investigation is ongoing. NASCAR sent a team of investigators from its human resources and legal offices to Kentucky this weekend to interview those named in the suit. Of 27 interviews conducted away from the track Thursday and Friday, two officials were found to have engaged in behavior that violated NASCAR policy. Their leave is indefinite. In addition, investigators failed to uncover a single instance where Grant complained to her supervisors or other NASCAR employees about the way she was treated, the person familiar with the investigation told AP. Grant has said she followed the chain of command all the way to Nationwide Series director Joe Balash, but stopped short of telling human resources because she was reprimanded by that department for a separate incident two weeks after lodging her complaint. She said she viewed the reprimand, which included a threat of termination, as retaliation for complaining to Balash. Balash was not one of the officials placed on leave Friday. Grant's lawyer, Benedict P. Morelli of Morelli Ratner PC, was not immediately available for comment

[KurtBuschFan]

Here's an interview with Mauricia Grant....gives some good insight into what happened and when it happened.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/tom_bowles/06/17/grant/index.html

[FSBryan]

My 2 cents:

First and foremost, $225 million is ridiculous, utterly ridiculous, I don't care what names anyone was called. But there is more at work here than an honest concern to "change the culture of NASCAR" or however it's being phrased. Why was it necessary to inform the courts and the public before the defendant? Why wait years to bring this up after sticking it out, and, as Jeff pointed out, get into situations outside of work with supposedly abusive persons?

There are also comments made in her interview with Tom that I both question and disagree with. For one, she concludes that to fix NASCAR they need to hire more "educated, well-rounded people," and that in 5 years there need to be more black everything in NASCAR, from the drivers to the crew members. It's not like there's tons of Marc Davis' out there hanging on a tree getting told "no ride for you" because you're black or any other color. From the perspective of the racers and the crew members, motorsports is the most accessible sport in the country...if you can't find a team start your own. And as for the officials, NASCAR's diversity program has been touted prominently. I can say this with as much certainty as I can as an outsider, because as a white college student trying to find a job within NASCAR I found myself ineligible for a ton of programs and benefits because I wasn't a minority. In the case of the racing industry, I would even argue that finding "educated" people might not always be the best bet...a lot of real racers out there don't go to college and get the diversity is good ivory tower perspective because they spend the money to race instead.

Drawing generalizations about the hires of NASCAR as "their ignorant brothers" doesn't do a lot to give this woman the high ground over the stereotypical behavior she describes NASCAR to have.

Assuming that everything she did say happened happened, I am appalled and would be first in line calling for the responsible parties to be disciplined harshly. But take a few steps back from the nastiness of the suit's subject matter, and there is a lot going on here that needs to be questioned. As much as NASCAR needs to pro actively investigate this situation, it also as a sanctioning body and as a community stand resolutely against the barrage of stereotyping and pressures that it will face in the coming weeks.