Four female prosecutors have sued Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton in federal court in Oakland for alleged gender and age discrimination.
The lawsuit claims Becton has been "systematically demoting and failing to advance, promote and assign supervisory roles to qualified and accomplished prosecutors who are women" and has given supervisory roles to less experienced and less qualified men.
The plaintiffs are deputy district attorneys Mary Knox, Alison Chandler, Mary Blumberg and Rachel Piersig, who have worked as prosecutors in the district attorney's office for 34, 20, 15 and 13 years respectively.
The defendants are the county, the Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office and Becton.
The lawsuit claims discrimination under both state and federal civil rights laws and asks for an injunction and compensatory and punitive financial awards.
Scott Alonso, spokesman for the Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office, said, "We don't have any comment as it's pending litigation."
