Former NAACP Employee Sues Over Sex Discrimination Settlement

BALTIMORE — A former NAACP employee is suing the civil rights group for $250,000, claiming its executive director breached the terms of a sex discrimination settlement, the NAACP’s attorney said Thursday.

Mary Stansel of Washington, a former interim assistant to executive director Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., filed the lawsuit in Superior Court in the District of Columbia on June 30, said Abbey Hairston, attorney for the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People.

Stansel, who worked for the group for five weeks in April and May, 1993, says that Chavis passed her over for a permanent staff position, giving jobs to men instead, Hairston said.

When Stansel threatened to sue the NAACP, Chavis settled with her out of court, Hairston said.

Under the terms of the settlement, the NAACP agreed to pay Stansel $80,000 and then $5,400 per month between November, 1993, and June, 1994, Hairston said. Chavis also agreed to help Stansel find a government job. If Stansel didn’t get a job by June, the NAACP was to pay her an additional $250,000.

In her lawsuit, Stansel says the fact that she didn’t find a job is a breach of the settlement, and she is seeking $250,000.

The NAACP didn’t give Stansel a permanent job because of personality clashes with staff members and because she demanded a $120,000 salary, Hairston said.