Gavin Newsom has long portrayed himself as a champion of women's rights: The progressive California governor has spoken out against treating women as objects, vowed to protect their health and safety, promised to include them in prominent decision-making roles in the state, and said that rape claims should be believed without documentation.

But Newsom, his sister, business partners, and employees were no champions of a woman who worked at the governor's San Francisco restaurant, according to a new lawsuit, which alleges that her superiors at the restaurant covered up the sexual harassment, drugging, and rape of the young server over a nearly two-year period.

Rather than believe the woman and protect her from continued assaults by her male colleagues, the leaders of Newsom's Balboa Cafe and its management company, PlumpJack Group, retaliated against her, gaslighted her, and ultimately fired her for a concocted violation of the restaurant's dress-code rules, according to the lawsuit filed on October 30, in California's Superior Court in San Francisco.

"Apparently, groping women in their genital region and sexually harassing women is intolerable when it is done by Gavin Newsom's political rivals," the lawsuit says, identifying one rival as President-elect Donald Trump, "but when the male employees of his own family business subject his female employees to this exact same unspeakable treatment, suddenly it is shrugged off and sanctioned by the entire [Newsom] family."

The allegations could be politically problematic for Newsom, who is widely perceived as a formidable 2028 Democratic presidential contender after Kamala Harris's flameout.

The lawsuit goes to great lengths to point out the discrepancies between Newsom's high-minded rhetoric about protecting the "fundamental rights of all women" and the alleged mistreatment of the female employee at the historic Balboa Cafe. But it's unclear how much, if at all, Newsom is still involved in the day-to-day operations of PlumpJack Group and its portfolio of businesses or if Newsom was even aware of the alleged mistreatment and retaliation against the female server. Newsom placed his businesses in a blind trust upon taking the reins as governor in 2018, according to news reports.

"He has no role in any of the holdings held by the blind trust," Newsom spokesman Nathan Click said in an email to National Review.

Daniel Valles, the lawyer who filed the suit, told National Review that he can't say yet if Newsom knew what was going on with his client, the server. He said he hopes to learn more through the discovery process. His allegations, as they pertain to the governor, are based on "information and belief," he said.

"Balboa is his baby restaurant. That was his first big restaurant in San Francisco he acquired with PlumpJack Group," Valles said. "I would be hard-pressed to believe that his sister, who is involved in it, didn't actually speak to Gavin Newsom."

In addition to Newsom, the defendants in the suit are: PlumpJack Management Group; its co-presidents, Jeremy Scherer and Hilary Newsom (the governor's sister); its human resources vice president; the Balboa Cafe partners; the restaurant's general manager; and two male Balboa employees accused of assaulting the woman.

A representative for PlumpJack called the allegations in the lawsuit “baseless” and stressed that all employees are trained to identify and prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.

"The incident presented in this case is distressing, but PlumpJack rejects any suggestion that its policies, employees, or management played a role, and will vigorously defend against this baseless suit,” the spokesman said in a statement.

“PlumpJack employees at all levels are rigorously trained and committed to a workplace free of harassment, discrimination, and unprofessional conduct. This is thoroughly spelled out at the time of employment through PlumpJack and California Civil Rights Division training, and reinforced by management in the workplace."

Attempts to reach the two men accused in the lawsuit of assaulting the woman were unsuccessful. A man who answered the phone Friday at Balboa Cafe called the two men accused of assault "beautiful boys." When told of the allegations against the men, the restaurant's maître d called the accusations "bulls***."

Valles said the two male Balboa employees admitted in an internal investigation to sexually harassing the woman but denied raping her. The lawsuit says a rape kit identified the DNA profiles of three different men after the alleged drugging and attack. A San Francisco Police Department spokesperson told National Review the department couldn't find a report of the rape.

Valles said his client didn't pursue a criminal investigation because she was young, "afraid," and lacked the resolve that an older victim might have.

"She was overall dissuaded just by the way that she was talked to," he said. "Everybody made her believe that nobody's going to believe her."

In California, the statute of limitations for rape is ten years, so the woman could still come forward to seek criminal charges against her alleged assailants.

The PlumpJack Group is a hospitality-management company dedicated to providing clients with "memorable and meaningful experiences," according to its website. Launched by Gavin Newsom in 1992, the company has a portfolio of wineries, event spaces, a hotel, and restaurants, including Balboa Cafe.

While some may view the lawsuit as a rightwing effort to harm Newsom's political prospects, Valles described himself as a Democrat who voted for and donated to Harris. Online records show that Valles has also donated to the Democratic fundraising organization ActBlue and to other Democrats, including Andrew Yang in 2019.

"I didn't want to file this case . . . because I'm a Democrat," Valles said. "I understand what this can do. But I also understand that as a Democrat I hold my people accountable."

Allegations of 'Relentless' Harassment and Rape

The female server started working at Balboa Cafe late in the summer of 2021 while she was attending San Francisco State University. It describes her as "a hardworking woman," an "exceptional employee," and a "go-getter" who earned $16.99 per hour plus tips at the restaurant, which originally opened in 1913 and has been described as a longtime "hobnob spot" for local politicians and the well-to-do.

The following account of her experience working at Balboa is based on the lawsuit. From the beginning of her time there, the woman was subjected to "relentless" sexual harassment by some of her male colleagues, including sexual commentary and unwanted physical contact. She "begrudgingly sucked it up and dealt with it as she needed to remain employed in order to afford her basic living expenses."

But, according to the allegations, the harassment grew worse over time.

In March 2022, one of the alleged harassers — a Balboa bartender and manager — followed the woman into the restroom, took hold of her hand, pulled her toward him, and grabbed her genitals. That employee "was notorious at Balboa for this type of overtly sexual, predator-like behavior."

Distraught after the bathroom assault, the woman complained to her supervisor, who escalated it. But "Balboa and PlumpJack did not even bother to investigate," and the male employee "faced no discipline whatsoever."

A few months later, on June 17, 2022, the woman was drugged and raped while visiting the establishment on her night off, according to the lawsuit.

Although she was not working that night, the woman went to the restaurant to retrieve her wallet, which she'd forgotten the night before. While she was there, a male employee — a longtime busser and bar employee who had previously harassed the woman — asked if she wanted a drink. The woman, "who did not want to be antisocial with her coworkers, and thinking it was harmless to accept a drink made at her place of work and by a coworker, accepted [the] offer," according to the lawsuit.

"The last thing Plaintiff remembers is taking two sips of that drink before everything went completely black, erasing and blurring the memories of the hours that follow," the suit says.

The next day the woman received a text from the bouncer of a neighboring nightclub who told her that he'd found her passed out on the sidewalk next to Balboa with a group of "sketchy men" around her. He said he helped her home.

She went to the hospital that morning and had a toxicology test and a rape kit test conducted, but had to wait ten weeks for the results.

The toxicology report eventually showed that in addition to alcohol, the woman had "traces of substances resembling Benadryl and/or cough syrup, which, when mixed with alcohol, make it difficult, if not impossible, to remain conscious," the lawsuit states.

The rape kit identified the presence of three different DNA profiles of sperm on and inside the woman's body. "Plaintiff was raped and sexually assaulted by not just one, but multiple people at Balboa, her place of employment, after being knocked unconscious by a cocktail dosed with sedatives by one of Balboa's employees," the suit states.

The day after the alleged attack — after the woman had been to the hospital but before the toxicology and rape kit reports came back — she informed her boss that she'd been "roofied" by a Balboa staffer. She eventually met with Hilary Newsom and PlumpJack's human resources vice president.

During the meeting the woman cried "hysterically" while Hilary Newsom and the H.R. leader "re-traumatized, over-criticized," and "victim blamed" her. They "demanded to see the results of the rape kit in order to 'corroborate' her story."

They conducted a "so-called 'investigation,'" which failed to corroborate the woman's story. Instead, Hilary Newsom and the H.R. leader told her that "nobody else believed her" and that "her coworkers all unanimously agreed that Plaintiff was probably making it all up," the suit says.

But the suit claims the two male employees identified by the woman "had already expressly admitted to Defendants that they had sexually harassed Plaintiff."

When asked by National Review what, specifically, the men had admitted to during the company's probe, Valles said he doesn't yet have those investigative documents.

"In their internal reports . . . they admitted that they sexually harassed her. But they didn't admit to raping her," Valles said. "It's an open admission, so it's really cut and dry."

Rather than taking action against the two men, company leaders instead retaliated against the woman. They forced her to work alongside the two alleged perpetrators, instigated divisions between her and her other colleagues, and wrote her up for trivial matters, including taking legally protected sick time and not arriving a half hour before her shift to engage in a clock-in-clock-out ruse to avoid legally-mandated lunch breaks.

On March 29, 2023, the woman was fired from Balboa Cafe for an alleged dress code violation — she wore black leggings to work.

The restaurant's dress code policy states that employees are to wear "black pants," but provides no details as to what type of pants are acceptable work attire for a server, according to the lawsuit. Black leggings are "commonly accepted attire by Balboa management . . . unless you make complaints," the suit alleges.

Valles called the reasoning for his client's firing "laughable at best."

Don't Rock the Boat

Valles noted that allegations of rape and sexual assault should hit close to home for Newsom — his wife, Jennifer, was victimized by one-time movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, whom Newsom has referred to as a "stone-cold predator" and a "rapist, twice convicted."

"He should never see the light of day. Period. Full stop," Newsom has said of Weinstein.

The lawsuit also notes that last year, Newsom attacked Florida, claiming that the state's new abortion laws "now require rape and incest victims to show 'documents' to prove they got raped" or else "the government will mandate they give birth to their rapist's child."

Valles said that charge is similar to Newsom's business team requiring rape kit documentation from his client, or "we're not going to believe anything happened to you."

Valles said he is urging his client to pursue a criminal investigation. "I would love her to actually file that because I want access to that evidence," he said, specifically noting possible access to DNA evidence.

He called it "dumbfounding" that his client was fired but the two men who she alleges assaulted her are still employed at the restaurant.

"What I think is it's a bad culture and they are profitable, Balboa is profitable," he said. "You don't rock the boat."