Tigers X - Number one Source to Talk Auburn Tigers Sports
The Library => Haley Center Basement => Topic started by: Jumbo on June 11, 2008, 02:16:32 PM
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http://www.al.com/ap/stories/index.ssf?/base/sports-4/1213112346171190.xml&storylist=topstories (http://www.al.com/ap/stories/index.ssf?/base/sports-4/1213112346171190.xml&storylist=topstories)
Former official sues NASCAR over harassment claims
6/10/2008, 6:42 p.m. CDT
By JENNA FRYER
The Associated Press
(AP) — As an aspiring racing official, Mauricia Grant had grown used to working in a man's world.
When she finally made it into NASCAR, Grant was appalled at the way she says she was treated beginning from her first day on the job until her firing last October.
Now she's suing NASCAR for $225 million, alleging racial and sexual discrimination, sexual harassment and wrongful termination.
"I loved it. It was a great, exciting, adrenaline-filled job where I worked with fast cars and the best drivers in the world," Grant told The Associated Press. "But there was an ongoing daily pattern (of harassment). It was the nature of the people I worked with, the people who ran it, it trickled down from the top.
"It's just the way things are in the garage."
The 32-year-old Grant, who is black, worked as a technical inspector responsible for certifying cars in NASCAR's second-tier Nationwide Series from January 2005 until her termination. In the lawsuit, she alleged she was referred to as "Nappy Headed Mo" and "Queen Sheba," by co-workers, was often told she worked on "colored people time," and was frightened by one official who routinely made references to the Ku Klux Klan.
In addition, Grant said she was subjected to sexual advances from male co-workers, two of whom allegedly exposed themselves to her, and graphic and lewd jokes.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, lists 23 specific incidents of alleged sexual harassment and 34 specific incidents of alleged racial and gender discrimination beginning when she was hired in January 2005 through her October 2007 firing.
NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said the organization had not yet reviewed the suit.
"As an equal opportunity employer, NASCAR is fully committed to the spirit and letter of affirmative action law," Poston said, adding NASCAR has a zero tolerance policy for harassment.
In the lawsuit, Grant said she complained numerous times to her supervisors about how she was treated, to no avail. On one occasion, Grant said Nationwide Series director Joe Balash, her immediate supervisor, was dismissive of her complaints, explaining her co-workers were "former military guys" with a rough sense of humor. "You just have to deal with it," she says Balash told her.
On another occasion, she alleged Balash participated in the harassment.
"Does your workout include an urban obstacle course with a flat-screen TV on your back?" she claimed Balash asked her during the week of July 28, 2007 while working in Indianapolis.
Grant told the AP her two younger sisters witnessed racial discrimination against the official while visiting her at Daytona International Speedway in 2006 and encouraged her to document every incident going forward.
The lawsuit details a series of those alleged incidents:
• Grant was forced to work outside more often than the white male officials because her supervisors believed she couldn't sunburn because she was black.
• While riding in the backseat of her car pool at Talladega Superspeedway, co-workers told her to duck as they passed race fans. "I don't want to start a riot when these fans see a black woman in my car," she claims one official said.
• When packing up a dark garage at Texas Motor Speedway an official told Grant: "Keep smiling and pop your eyes out 'cause we can't see you."
• When she ignored advances from co-workers, Grant was accused of being gay. She also claimed co-workers questioned the sexual orientation of two other female officials.
After her termination, Grant said she went over her notes and recognized "a pattern of retaliation and discrimination."
"It didn't diminish my love for the sport of auto racing, but the job wasn't always the easiest thing to go to every day," she said.
Grant said she routinely complained to her supervisors. Two weeks after her final complaint, Grant said she was warned during the week of August 18, 2007 at Michigan International Speedway that she had engaged in "conduct unbecoming of a NASCAR representative" and would be fired unless she changed her behavior. She said the warning stemmed from a confrontation with a track official who stopped her as she passed through a gate to use the restroom.
Roughly two months later, Grant was fired, and NASCAR cited a poor work performance in ending her employment. The lawsuit claims other than a previous warning for using "street" language, Grant had never been disciplined for job performance and routinely received positive reviews.
"It is time for NASCAR to realize that not everbody is going to be bought off and not file a complaint," said Grant's attorney, Benedict P. Morelli of Morelli Ratner PC. "Not everybody is going to be intimidated and not file a complaint. Not everybody is going to be blackballed and not file a complaint."
In addition, the suit claims official Heather Gambino was fired in 2006 for complaining about a sexually hostile work environment. The suit also claims former official Dean Duckett, who is black, was reprimanded and ultimately fired last November for using "aggressive language toward a white co-worker."
Among those identified in Grant's suit are Balash, assistant series director Mike Dolan, supervisors Alan Shephard and Dennis Dillon, NASCAR's senior manager for business relations, the human resources director and 17 of Grant's fellow officials. All of the defendants are white.
"My supervisors all praised me. I was hanging in there with the guys," she said. "I am an athletic person. I went over the wall and faced malicious crews and competitive crew chiefs, and I was right there and held it down and was never lazy about it.
"And I knew that once I was terminated, there wasn't going to be an opportunity for me to find another industry like NASCAR to practice my craft."
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...
Former official sues NASCAR over harassment claims
6/10/2008, 6:42 p.m. CDT
By JENNA FRYER
The Associated Press
(AP) — As an aspiring racing official, Mauricia Grant had grown used to working in a man's world.
When she finally made it into NASCAR, Grant was appalled at the way she says she was treated beginning from her first day on the job until her firing last October.
Now she's suing NASCAR for $225 million, alleging racial and sexual discrimination, sexual harassment and wrongful termination.
"I loved it. It was a great, exciting, adrenaline-filled job where I worked with fast cars and the best drivers in the world," Grant told The Associated Press. "But there was an ongoing daily pattern (of harassment). It was the nature of the people I worked with, the people who ran it, it trickled down from the top.
"It's just the way things are in the garage."
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She just said "trickled down from the top"... What a whore!!!
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A black woman scorned after failing in her employment...and she's crying "racism"?!?!?!?!? No way????? :taunt:
She stayed there for HOW LONG!?!?! Under "scary" conditions and with "continuous" harrassment for HOW LONG!?!?!. Bullshit. :bs:
She got fired, and figured she'd go Sharpton on Nascar. What a fucking joke.
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A black woman scorned after failing in her employment...and she's crying "racism"?!?!?!?!? No way????? :taunt:
She stayed there for HOW LONG!?!?! Under "scary" conditions and with "continuous" harrassment for HOW LONG!?!?!. Bullshit. :bs:
She got fired, and figured she'd go Sharpton on Nascar. What a fucking joke.
Hey, it's already worked a million times before...why not make it 1,000,001???
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A black woman scorned after failing in her employment...and she's crying "racism"?!?!?!?!? No way????? :taunt:
She stayed there for HOW LONG!?!?! Under "scary" conditions and with "continuous" harrassment for HOW LONG!?!?!. Bullshit. :bs:
She got fired, and figured she'd go Sharpton on Nascar. What a fucking joke.
Typical white boy response... You just wait until Emporer Obama's in charge. It'll be off to the re-education camp for you pal!
Remember... "My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to change it." I guess that's change "we" can believe in...
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Harassment's a bitch. Just ask Isiah Thomas and your New York Knicks.
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Tsk, tsk. Just goes to show you that there's no room for women and/or blacks in NASCAR. Women have their kitchens and blacks have basketball. Why not let the white man have NASCAR to himself like God intended?
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Tsk, tsk. Just goes to show you that there's no room for women and/or blacks in NASCAR. Women have their kitchens and blacks have basketball. Why not let the white man have NASCAR to himself like God intended?
(http://www.randomimage.us/files/436e66cff0956.gif)
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Tsk, tsk. Just goes to show you that there's no room for women and/or blacks in NASCAR. Women have their kitchens and blacks have basketball. Why not let the white man have NASCAR to himself like God intended?
Cracka.
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Apparently Chad has been comparing notes with Jumbo on new and interesting ways to use the quote feature.
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Apparently Chad has been comparing notes with Jumbo on new and interesting ways to use the quote feature.
I thought he was just slingin' the red "x". He quoted it correctly..... I think.... :silence:
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Apparently Chad has been comparing notes with Jumbo on new and interesting ways to use the quote feature.
Apparently Howard has been comparing notes with Stevie Wonder on new and interesting ways to view images hosted externally from this site.
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Apparently Howard has been comparing notes with Stevie Wonder on new and interesting ways to view images hosted externally from this site.
Is there an image under the quote? I don't see one.
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Is there an image under the quote? I don't see one.
No picture on my screen.
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X strikes again
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No picture on my screen.
You guys and your fascist employers.
Modify or quote my post, because I am a little attention whore and much like Tupac, I want All Eyez on Me.
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Modify or quote my post.
No.
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You guys and your fascist employers.
Modify or quote my post, because I am a little attention whore and much like Tupac, I want All Eyez on Me.
Not that one.
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Not that one.
Oh, you meant this one:
(http://www.randomimage.us/files/436e66cff0956.gif)
Red X for me.
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Yes, that one. Perfect.
:popcorn:
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All I can say is Firefox, fuckers.
I'm viewing the page in IE now and get the x too. It works in Firefox.
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All I can say is Firefox, fuckers.
I'm viewing the page in IE like I should be, and now get the x too. It works for the one or two of us using Firefox though.
:popcorn:
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All I can say is Firefox, fuckers.
It's all I use. Fucker.
Still no picture. Fucker.
Fucker.
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All I can say is Firefox, fuckers.
I'm viewing the page in IE like I should be if I were too mildy retarded to realize that IE blows, is for technological simpleons, and can't do something as simple as display an image, and now get the x too. It works for the one or two of us intelligent enough to use Firefox though.
:popcorn:
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Oh, you meant this one:
Red X for me.
Me as well! The red X never let's you down.
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"Simpleons"... Masters of the internets!
:vn:
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I still see the image just fine when viewing the page in firefox, so I maintain that I am the only one here who is not retarded.
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I still see the image just fine when viewing the page in firefox, so I maintain that I am the only one here who is retarded.
Alrighty then.
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I still see the image just fine when viewing the page in firefox, so I maintain that I am the only one here who is not retarded.
Chad is the king of teh ebays.
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I still see the image just fine when viewing the page in firefox, so I maintain that I am the only one here who is not retarded.
You clearly missed this post re: Firefox:
It's all I use. Fucker.
Still no picture. Fucker.
Fucker.
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You clearly missed this post re: Firefox:
He's not big on attention to details.
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He's not big on attention to details.
Those tend to get lost in themselves.
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Those tend to get lost in themselves.
The devil's in them.