Woman sues tribe over firing
GARDNERVILLE — A 48-year-old woman has filed a legal complaint against the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California, claiming that she was fired as its tribal administrator because she is white.
In her unfair-termination complaint, Nancy Kerry accuses tribal members of racial and sexual discrimination as well as harassment. She was fired without notice in February 2007 after only several months on the job, she said.
The complaint alleges Kerry "was forced to endure several humiliating meetings in which members expressed their beliefs that ‘white people’ should not work for the tribe, and that there was no place in the tribe for a ‘white woman.’ "
The tribe’s general counsel did not return repeated phone calls for comment.
Kerry’s lawyer, Brent Ryman, said that the tribe has its own separate legal entity and that the complaint was filed with it in February.
"We’ve been denied at every level so far and still no one’s given us a reason why she’s been fired," Ryman told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "We have every intent of moving forward with a trial."
The tribe is a federally recognized, self-governing group obligated to provide equal opportunities in the workplace, regardless of age, race, national origin or sex.
Kerry, who now lives in nearby South Lake Tahoe, Calif., and holds a position that pays half her former salary, said her problems escalated after her photo ran in a newspaper and revealed her race to tribal members.
At the same time, Kerry claims, she began uncovering several alleged misappropriations of funds. When she began addressing the discrepancies and holding workers accountable for missing money, she was threatened, spit on and verbally abused, she said.
"I thought I was supposed to do a professional job," said Kerry, who previously worked 10 years for governmental agencies around San Diego. "As I did that, that’s when I was getting the threats."
Jorge Lopez was hired to replace Kerry by the tribal council.