A former district director for Assemblymember Anamarie Ávila Farías has sued the Concord Democrat and the California Assembly, alleging she faced racial discrimination, retaliation and harassment after reporting suspected misuse of taxpayer-funded time for campaign work.
The lawsuit, filed last week in Contra Costa County Superior Court by Pa’tanisha Davis Pierson, accuses Ávila Farías’s office of allowing a pattern of mistreatment toward Black employees, including assigning them less desirable, more time-consuming work than their non-Black colleagues and failing to recognize Black interns’ contributions compared with others.
According to the complaint, Davis Pierson witnessed Black employees “being yelled at and pressured or driven from their positions.”
The dispute traces back to Sept. 29, 2025, when Davis Pierson reported to the state Assembly’s human resources department that field representative Jessica Cisneros was doing campaign work for Ávila Farías during paid state working hours inside the lawmaker’s district office. Davis Pierson claims that within weeks of that report, she was stripped of supervisory duties and isolated from coworkers.
The lawsuit alleges the situation escalated on Nov. 13, 2025, when Cisneros confronted Davis Pierson in a hallway at the district office. The complaint states that Cisneros “intentionally made offensive physical contact with [Davis Pierson] by body-checking her in a district-office hallway.” That incident came just 10 days after the Assembly’s Workplace Conduct Unit opened an investigation into Davis Pierson’s whistleblower complaint. Cisneros remains employed in Ávila Farías’s office.
Davis Pierson also alleges that Ávila Farías herself subjected her to unwanted physical contact, claiming the assemblymember forced her into a hug on Jan. 5 despite ongoing tension between the two.
The complaint further alleges that after Davis Pierson disclosed a medical condition and requested accommodations — including time off for a medical procedure, a hybrid work schedule and lifting restrictions — officials revoked her previously approved schedule, denied her requests and increased scrutiny of her work. She says she was then criticized for activities that management had already approved.
Davis Pierson resigned in April, saying the ongoing discrimination, retaliation and hostile conditions had effectively pushed her out. She is now working as an administrative law judge, according to her attorney.
The lawsuit names both Ávila Farías and the California Assembly as defendants, with claims including whistleblower retaliation, racial discrimination, harassment and disability discrimination. Davis Pierson’s attorneys declined to comment beyond the filing itself.
Ávila Farías has denied the allegations. “I vigorously deny the allegations and will defend against them through the appropriate legal process,” she said in an emailed statement. She also defended her office’s hiring, saying her staff is among the most diverse in the Legislature and reflects the makeup of Contra Costa County.
Ávila Farías, who took office in December 2024, is running for reelection in her heavily Democratic East Bay district on Nov. 3. Her office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
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