A California state senator has been accused of sexually harassing a staffer by pressuring him to perform sex acts – including to the point of injury – and firing him when he resisted.
Marie Alvarado-Gil’s former chief of staff Chad Condit accused both the senator and the California State Senate of discrimination in violation of employment law in a Sacramento Superior Court suit filed last week.
In the 39-page complaint – seen by Sky News – Mr Condit alleges Ms Alvarado-Gil groomed him and throughout his employment he was asked to perform sexual favours.
On the last occasion, where he alleges he was pressured to perform a sex act on the senator in the back of a car, Mr Condit claims he suffered three herniated discs in his back and a collapsed hip, which he said required surgery.
Speaking to POLITICO, Ognian Gavrilov, representing Ms Alvarado- Gil, said the accusations are “without any corroboration of evidence”.
He said: “This is an outlandish lawsuit and we’re going to fight it and we’re going to win it.”
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According to the complaint, Mr Condit met Ms Alvarado-Gil in 2022 after he failed to win a primary election for the California assembly. She was elected as state senator that year and proceeded to bring Mr Condit on as her chief of staff.
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He then alleges the senator began “grooming” him with intimate details of her personal life, and claimed Ms Alvarado-Gil told him she believed he would be more like his father, Gary Condit, a former Democratic Californian representative who had admitted to police he had affairs with multiple younger women. One of them, intern Chandra Levy, disappeared in 2001. Her decomposed body was found a year later, although Condit was cleared of any involvement.
In his complaint, Chad Condit alleged Ms Alvarado-Gil would also have him carry out personal errands such as driving her children and caring for her dog by January last year.
It reads: “This growing control and exercise of power by [Ms Alvarado-Gil] further conditioned [Mr Condit] into an unequal and subservient position.”
He then alleges that “after months of creating a dominant-submissive relationship” – including Ms Alvarado-Gil hiring his wife to her campaign in March 2023 – the state senator initiated sexual advances during a trip to Inyo County.
“[Mr Condit] was numbed and acted without thinking and it went from there with [Ms Alvarado-Gil] establishing her ability to dominate him,” the suit reads.
“[Mr Condit] briefly performed as demanded until she was satisfied by his submission to her.”
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When the former staffer began pushing back against the senator’s advances, Mr Condit alleged Ms Alvarado-Gil was “unhappy with him” but continued to make inappropriate comments to him.
He then claims Ms Alvarado-Gil retaliated to his refusal to participate in sexual acts by prompting the state Senate’s human resources representative to reprimand him, as well as allegedly going to his home to accuse him of cheating in front of his wife.
Mr Condit also claimed Vanessa Bravo, Ms Alvarado-Gil’s current chief of staff and a childhood friend, “proved herself tolerant and supportive” of her discrimination, harassment and retaliation.
He alleged he was given a notice of termination from the state senate in December, and said his “employment record and opportunities in public employment are irreparably damaged and will never be the same”.
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Mr Condit is seeking compensation over the allegations, including lost wages, loss of earning capacity, employee benefits and damages for emotional distress.
