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 officials, who were not immediately identified, were sent home from Kentucky Speedway on Friday evening, a person familiar with the NASCAR investigation said.
Mauricia Grant filed her suit Tuesday, alleging 23 specific incidents of sexual harassment and 34 specific incidents of racial and gender discrimination during her time as a technical inspector for NASCAR’s second-tier Nationwide Series.
Grant, who is black, claims her October 2007 firing was retaliation for complaining about the way she was treated on the job from her January 2005 hiring.
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, but paid.
“We take this issue very seriously, and we’re going to always do everything we can to maintain a professional work place,” NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said.
NASCAR chairman Brian France has not addressed the validity of Grant’s claims, but said the former official never made a formal complaint or followed NASCAR policy in reporting harassment.
Named in the suit are Balash, assistant series director Mike Dolan, two supervisors, NASCAR’s senior manager for business relations, the human resources director and 17 officials who were Grant’s co-workers.
The two employees placed on leave Friday were among those 17 officials. Balash, Dolan and the two supervisors remained on site in Kentucky for Saturday night’s Nationwide Series race.
Grant’s lawyer, Benedict P. Morelli of Morelli Ratner PC, called NASCAR’s action “unbelievable and astonishing” but said it was too little too late for his client.
“It seems to me that maybe they should close the barn door before the horse runs out, instead of after the horse runs out,” Morelli said. “This is what you do when you are in a defensive posture. They should have known this was going on.”
NASCAR officials refused to discuss the suit, choosing to see how the litigation proceeds. No trial date has been scheduled, as yet.
If those allegations are found to be true in court, it could have a devastating impact not only on the sanctioning body, but also on a sport that has, for the most part, been a whites-only enterprise for decades.
“I know (NASCAR Chairman) Brian France is committed to this being a diverse garage and welcoming to anybody and everybody,” driver Jeff Burton said. “I know that I want this to be a garage that is diverse and a cross-section of America. I can honestly tell you that I’ve never spoken to anybody that doesn’t believe the same thing.”
Four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon, one of the most open-minded drivers on the circuit when it comes to diversity, echoed a similar theme as Burton.
“I haven’t spoken to any drivers about it,” Gordon said. “I’m pretty sure I know less about it than you guys do and I’d like to keep it that way, just watch it play out like you are and not as much detail in it, I’m sure.
“Just let the courts decide and see how it plays out before that even happens. That’s all I can answer that. Sorry, I don’t have much information for you today. You’re asking all the
great questions, but I don’t have all the good answers.”
Gordon’s teammate, two-time defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, said he was “totally shocked” when he first heard the news about Grant’s suit.
Still, Johnson said he doesn’t believe discrimination and harassment “exists in our garage area. Our sport is a big sport and I don’t think that matters, race or gender. We see it work in the sport every day, so I’m very shocked to see that.”
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