ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, June 7, 1996 TAG: 9606070074
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
The NAACP does not have to pay the $332,400 promised by former Executive Director Benjamin Chavis to settle an employee's sexual harassment claim, a jury ruled Thursday.
The jury also concluded the civil rights organization is entitled to a refund of the money already paid.
``This marks the end of a very unfortunate episode in the recent history of a great American organization,'' said NAACP President Kweisi Mfume.
Mary E. Stansel, who testified she feared for her job if she did not yield to Chavis' advances, must repay $63,800 of the money she already has received from the NAACP. Chavis also must return $5,400 the NAACP paid on his behalf.
Chavis made a deal in November 1993 to settle the claim of Stansel, his executive assistant, without first seeking approval from the civil rights organization's executive board.
``As we have maintained from the outset, the settlement by Mr. Chavis with the payment of NAACP funds to Ms. Stansel was both unauthorized and inappropriate,'' Mfume said. ``The jury has vindicated the association's position.''
The settlement itself did not figure in the case; the only issue was who must pay it. The jury was not told that D.C. Superior Court Judge Henry Kennedy ruled last fall that the liability was Chavis'.
That ruling is being appealed.
``I've said all the time that her claims have no merit,'' Chavis said. ``There was no sexual harassment, there was no sexual discrimination, there was no breach of contract. I think the jury reached that conclusion.
``This is a case of a former employee holding the NAACP and me up for money,'' he said. ``The jury disagreed.''
Stansel received $50,000 plus $5,400 a month under the settlement. She had been paid $87,200 when the payments stopped and she sued the NAACP for the $245,000 still outstanding. The NAACP countersued and asked return of money already paid, claiming Chavis entered into the settlement without its knowledge and agreement.
Chavis testified that he fired Stansel after she had been on the job for six weeks because of complaints that she had a ``rather arrogant attitude.''
Chavis himself was ousted after 16 months as CEO when the settlement became public.
Stansel said she resisted Chavis' advances at first but that she had sex with him in Washington at a time when ``we were in the delicate stages of negotiating a final contract.''
``There was no positive way out of it and if I left that day, I would not have had a job the next day,'' she said. ``I felt pressured into doing it. He was the boss and I was the employee.''
The trial in D.C. Superior Court lasted nearly three weeks. The jury deliberated about five hours over two days.
Chavis' attorney argued that the organization should pay because Chavis was acting on its behalf.
Chavis testified that he acted to protect the NAACP. He also said he had settled other matters without first getting the board's approval.
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Chavisby CNB