GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank says allegations of a sexual harassment in suit by the team's former vice president of human resources, are totally unjustified.

Carol Faubert, 53, claims in the suit filed last week in federal court that she was fired in February for speaking out against the treatment of women in the organization.

"It's sad that we have to take time to deal with this," Blank said Monday at practice at Furman University. "But to me that's a lot less painful than having these statements being made about us and our organization and about me and others that are complete distortions and fabrications."

Speaking publicly about the suit for the first time since it was filed on July 28, Blank indicated Faubert promised to drop the suit if she were paid $5 million.

"My answer is that, as a matter of principle, I'm not going to do something like that," Blank said. "We have nothing to hide, and we'll be happy to talk about all the truths and just deal with it."

Taylor Jones, an attorney representing Faubert, responded that "every single thing we've listed will prove to be true."

The lawsuit alleges that Blank condoned a work climate in which female employees were treated as "sex objects," and claims Faubert was fired for objecting to Blank's refusal to hire women with young children and his decision to prohibit certain employees from earning overtime.

Blank, who co-founded Home Depot and was CEO until he retired two years ago, insisted there is no correlation between this lawsuit and one that seven California women filed against the world's largest home improvement retailer in 1994.

Blank was not named as a defendant in that class action suit, which claimed Home Depot denied women promotions because of their gender. The two sides reached a settlement in which Home Depot paid $104.5 million.