Sierra Club Received Sex Harassment Complaint About Then-Chief Earlier This Year

A Sierra Club employee filed a workplace misconduct complaint earlier this year with the board of directors alleging that then-executive director Ben Jealous engaged in sexual harassment and bullying.

The employee’s complaint, reviewed by Bloomberg News, alleges Jealous made unwelcome sexual comments that included graphic remarks about his own sex life and the bodies of women working for one of the oldest and largest US environmental organizations. The complaint alleges verbal abuse and screaming fits toward the employee.

Reached for comment on the harassment complaint, Jealous said in a statement that he had been the victim of racial discrimination by the Sierra Club.

A representative for the Sierra Club declined to comment on personnel matters. “When we receive complaints, we investigate them,” said Sierra Club spokesman Jonathon Berman.

The board of directors voted unanimously to remove Jealous from his role earlier this month “for cause,” without explaining publiclywhy it dismissed him. Berman did not comment on the length or outcome of the investigation, or whether it played a part in the board’s decision to remove him from his role.

Jealous, who previously served as the chief of the NAACP civil-rights group before becoming the first Black person to lead the Sierra Club in 2023, did not directly address the workplace complaint when asked about it by Bloomberg News.

“No one can be surprised that the Sierra Club has resorted to personal attacks. That’s how racial retaliation works. When you’re being discriminated against, they don’t accuse you of being Black,” Jealous said in a statement from his lawyer. “Before I left, I raised serious issues of racism and retaliation, and I have honored the confidential process in my contract rather than leak those publicly. It is no coincidence these accusations surface now, after I filed my arbitration complaint detailing the discrimination and retaliation I endured.”

“As Mr. Jealous knows, the Board sent him a written statement that detailed the reasons for their unanimous vote to terminate his employment,” Berman said in a statement without elaborating on those reasons.

Jealous’s tenure at the Sierra Club had been tumultuous, marked by clashes with the organization’s union and calls from state chapters for a no-confidence vote in his leadership. The union passed a resolution of no confidence in Jealous and his executive team in 2024 citing attacks, union busting and retaliation. In July, Sierra Club’s board of directors placed Jealous on leave. In August, the board fired him.

The Sierra Club has more than 60 chapters around the country and reported $195 million in revenue for 2023. In between his leadership roles in the NAACP, one of the biggest civil rights groups in the US, and the Sierra Club, Jealous moved into politics. He ran for governor of Maryland as a Democrat in 2018, losing in the general election to Republican Larry Hogan.

Sierra Club’s dismissal of Jealous has prompted pushback. “There are serious racial implications in firing a Black man of Ben’s caliber, in this fashion, at a time when diversity is under attack,” Rev. Al Sharpton, founder and president of National Action Network, said in a statement after his firing. When reached for comment this week, Sharpton’s team reaffirmed the need for an arbitration process to resolve the issue.

Photo: Ben Jealous attends Sierra Club’s 2025 Trail Blazers Ball this year in Los Angeles. Photo by Araya Doheny/Getty Images for Sierra Club