The National Restaurant Association released a statement Friday confirming that over a decade ago, a female employee filed a formal complaint of sexual harassment against then-association head Herman Cain. Cain disputed the allegations at the time, according to the trade group.
The association told the woman’s attorney it is willing to waive the confidentiality agreement signed by the parties involved — although not by Cain himself — but her lawyer, Joel P. Bennett, said in his own statement Friday that the woman wishes to remain a private citizen and would not be revealing further details regarding her story.
But Bennett did reveal that his client said there were “several instances” that caused his client to feel uncomfortable.
“Based upon the information currently available, we can confirm that more than a decade ago, in July 1999, Mr. Bennett’s client filed a formal internal complaint, in accordance with the Association’s existing policies prohibiting discrimination and harassment,” NRA President and CEO Dawn Sweeney said.“Mr. Herman Cain disputed the allegations in the complaint.”
In a statement late Friday afternoon, Cain spokesman J.D. Gordon said: "We look forward to focusing our attention on the real issues impacting this country -- like fixing this broken economy and putting Americans back to work through our 9-9-9 plan, as well as strengthening national security."
Sweeney said an agreement was reached “without an admission of liability,” and that Cain, now a GOP presidential candidate, was “not a party to the agreement.”
But in a press conference on Friday, Bennet said the woman in question,who has been married 26 years and is a federal employee, said that “she has decided not to relive” the incident and wants to remain a private person.
“My client stands by the complaint she made,” Bennett said.
Bennett, who filed a request Wednesday asking that the National Restaurant Association waive a confidentiality agreement, said that for his client, revisiting the incident, which he said occured over a month’s time and happened more than once, would be “extremely painful” for his client.
Bennett refused to disclose how much his client settled the case for and said that he would not get into any details of whether the complaints involved physical interaction or conversations, but labeled it as sexual harassment.
The NRA said it would have been willing to waive its confidentiality agreement if the woman who filed the complaint had wanted to speak.
“We have advised Mr. Bennett that we are willing to waive the confidentiality of this matter and permit Mr. Bennett’s client to comment. As indicated in Mr. Bennett’s statement, his client prefers not to be further involved with this matter and we will respect her decision.”
Seemingly undaunted by the scandal swirling around him, Cain arrived back in Washington on Friday to speak to a group sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, where he made a concerted effort to focus on substance rather than the sexual harassment scandal that has swirled around him for the last six days.