NEW YORK: The former head of Al Jazeera America's documentary unit has sued the news network, claiming it is biased against non-Arabs in stories that it produces and how it treats employees.

Shannon High-Bassalik, fired in February after working through half of a three-year contract, said the network's recently ousted chief executive Ehab Al Shihabi left meetings when women were speaking and admitted that he tried to favor an Arab point of view to please AJAM's Qatar-based ownership.

Al Jazeera America called High-Bassalik's accusations unfounded and said she made none of them during an investigation of her employment record conducted by an outside law firm.

She's the second fired employee to sue. The company's former senior vice president of newsgathering, head of human resources and communications chief all quit recently.