FILE – State Senator Marie Alvarado-Gil, D-Jackson, at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., Monday, July 10, 2023. Alvarado-Gil announced Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, that she is switching to the Republican Party. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli,File)
The former chief of staff for California State Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil filed a civil lawsuit alleging the Republican lawmaker forced him to perform sexual favors for her, one of which resulted in a serious back injury.
In a lawsuit filed Thursday in the Sacramento Superior Court, Chad Condit claimed Alvarado-Gil exploited her position of power to sexually harass him while he served as her chief of staff.
“[Condit] was demeaned and made to feel empty and subordinate to his boss, a California state senator, with power over his career and livelihood,” the complaint read.
Last month, Alvarado-Gil switched parties from Democrat to Republican. She said her former party’s supermajority in the Legislature is “unrecognizable to what I once knew and lacks the will to fix the problems plaguing this state.”
In addition to sexual harassment claims, the new Republican faces allegations of discrimination, retaliation and violations of California labor laws.
In the complaint, Condit alleged his former boss began creating a hostile work environment immediately after he became her chief of staff in 2022 after successfully running her election to the state Senate. Condit met Alvarado-Gil while running for the 22nd California Assembly District in 2022, which he lost.
Condit claimed that Alvarado-Gil pressured him into performing oral sex on her several times during the year he worked for her. Condit, who is married, said in the complaint that he felt pressured to perform the favors out of fear of losing his job. He claimed that Alvarado-Gil seemed to revel in her dominance over Condit, at one point he claimed that the senator told him to kiss her genitals to “prove your loyalty.”
One incident in which Condit claimed he was pressured to perform oral sex in a car, which resulted in a back injury. The filing states that Condit suffered three herniated discs in his back and a collapsed hip as a result of the incident.
After the incident, Condit claimed in the filing that he rejected Alvarado-Gil’s advances. He underwent back surgery in Oct. 2023 to address the injury, and two months later he was fired.
Ognian Gavrilov, Alvarado-Gil’s lawyer, called the claims completely unsubstantiated and outlandish.
“We’re gonna fight everything, there’s never gonna be a settlement from this case,” Gavrilov said. “This case will either result in them dismissing it for no money, or we’ll go all the way to trial.”
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Originally published at Tribune News Service