State treasurer accused of harassment, wrongful firing
SACRAMENTO — A former senior employee in the California State Treasurer’s Office has sued Treasurer Fiona Ma for sexual harassment and wrongful termination, alleging that she was fired earlier this year after resisting unwanted sexual advances from Ma.
Judith Blackwell, who worked under Ma for about 16 months as executive director of the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee, filed the lawsuit last week in Sacramento County Superior Court.
“Plaintiff felt the work environment to be hostile as she felt her employment was contingent on her accepting Defendant Ma’s sexual advances,” Blackwell’s attorney, Waukeen McCoy, wrote in the complaint. “As a result of Plaintiff denying Defendant Ma’s advances, she was terminated from her employment.”
Ma, a former Democratic state legislator from San Francisco who was elected treasurer in 2018, said in a statement that she repeatedly refused attempts by McCoy to settle.
“I am saddened and dis
appointed by these baseless claims. I want to thank everyone for the outpouring of support I’ve received today,” she said. “We look forward to bringing the truth to light in court.”
As treasurer, Ma chairs the committee that administers a pair of federal and state tax credit programs to build affordable rental housing for lowincome Californians, and she named Blackwell executive director in September 2019. The following January, she ousted the head of a closely related affordable housing bond committee that she chairs and asked Blackwell to lead that one as well.
With Blackwell now working late into the evenings and facing an hour commute home, the lawsuit alleges that Ma offered to pay for a room at a Sacramento hotel for her to stay. Beginning in February 2020, Blackwell began dining nightly with Ma and her chief of staff, who shared a room at the same hotel, according to the lawsuit.
Soon after, Ma allegedly proposed that she share a room with Blackwell instead, and during that time, repeatedly exposed her bare backside to Blackwell.
“It was done to get Plaintiff ’s attention,” McCoy wrote in the complaint. “Plaintiff was uncomfortable and was fearful to comment on Ms. Ma’s lewd behavior.”
Over the next few months, Ma gifted Blackwell with jewelry, paintings and edible marijuana to help her sleep, according to the lawsuit. She also allegedly provided Blackwell with a parking space in front of their office and promised to promote her to deputy treasurer.
In May 2020, Ma, her chief of staff and Blackwell moved into a Sacramento home rented through Airbnb where they each had their own rooms, according to the lawsuit. Blackwell alleges that Ma climbed into her bed one night while she was trying to sleep.
After suffering a stroke in September that kept her out of work for eight weeks, Blackwell alleges that she began experiencing negative treatment, including losing her parking space and being assigned additional tasks that required her to work overtime without assistance or additional compensation. The lawsuit states that she was fired in January without being given a reason.
In addition to sexual harassment and wrongful termination, Blackwell is suing for race discrimination, disability discrimination and intentional infliction of emotional distress. She alleges that Ma, who is Asian American, has a pattern of pushing out African American senior employees like Blackwell and that Ma replaced her with a “lessqualified Caucasian female.”
Blackwell is seeking punitive damages, civil penalties and attorney’s fees, among other relief. McCoy, her attorney, said Monday that Ma has 30 days to respond to the lawsuit, after which they will be assigned a case management conference with a judge.
“We tried to resolve the case with Ms. Ma before the lawsuit,” he said. “We never heard from them.”