A former staff member is suing the SF Chinese Chamber of Commerce — the organization that puts on the Chinese New Year Parade — and nine of its leaders, alleging wrongful termination and years of sexual harassment and assault.As the Chronicle reports, Judy Lee filed a lawsuit against the chamber and nine of its leaders Wednesday, alleging she was wrongfully terminated in July in retaliation for reporting the countless incidents of sexual harassment and assault she says she endured at the organization.Back in July, former San Francisco Chinese Chamber of Commerce board president Donald Luu stepped down after 13 board members threatened to resign over the organization’s handling of Judy Lee’s sexual misconduct allegations, which Luu has denied. Luu is not named in Lee’s lawsuit.Lee alleges that the harassment began in 2014 when she was volunteering with the chamber. One of the chamber’s leaders began pursuing Lee after she became a finalist in the Miss Chinatown USA pageant, repeatedly asking her to accompany him to community events and touching her inappropriately during dinners.She also alleges that other senior male chamber leaders pressured her to attend dinners and bring younger women, including friends, real estate professionals, and pageant contestants. She said she and the other women were pressured to drink heavily, alleging she was subjected to unwanted romantic and sexual advances while being told, in effect, that these interactions were part of networking with influential chamber members.Chamber leadership allegedly dismissed Lee’s concerns, and she says the man whose advances she had rejected withdrew his support for her within the organization. She tells the Chronicle that she initially hesitated to report it, as the chamber’s dismissive response to her complaints led her to believe the behavior was accepted there, and she feared losing her Miss Chinatown USA title.After Lee was elected to the chamber’s board in 2020, she alleges that another senior male chamber member repeatedly touched her during private dinners, including an incident at an event honoring former Mayor Willie Brown and celebrating the Chinese New Year pageant.According to the Chronicle, the lawsuit describes a more serious alleged incident several months later, during a May 2024 chamber board trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Lee alleges that another board member entered her locked hotel room at night and sexually assaulted her before fleeing when she screamed. Her attorney declined to identify the man.After Lee was hired as program director at the chamber in 2025, the same man allegedly invited her to a Napa resort to celebrate her new position, telling her she owed him since his influence got her the job, and she feared refusing. She alleged that he forcibly held her hand during the drive and, after they arrived, revealed that he had booked only one room. She ultimately left the resort and took an Uber back to San Francisco.Lee began to notice, per the Chronicle, that her desk drawers appeared to have been searched and that older men unaffiliated with the organization would sometimes show up late at night when she was working after events — using their own keys to the office.Lee installed a surveillance camera aimed at her workstation, saying she wanted to protect her belongings and herself, and this led to three other employees filing a separate lawsuit against the chamber over privacy. Lee’s lawsuit says that chamber leaders threatened to investigate her for criminal conduct and terminate her over the camera issue, per the Chronicle. She also alleges that leaders launched a smear campaign against her, including claims that she was having an affair with a married chamber official.She was placed on paid administrative leave before being fired July 22. The termination came as the broader dispute within the chamber had already become public, with more than a dozen board members threatening to resign unless Luu was removed as president.Luu stepped down in July, denying the allegations against him and saying they had become a distraction. He subsequently sued Lee for defamation, alleging that she violated a confidential settlement agreement. Lee’s attorney, Kathleen Alparce, has characterized that lawsuit as an effort to silence her client.Lee is reportedly seeking at least $1 million in damages from the chamber and the nine defendants named in her lawsuit. She told the Chronicle she decided to sue because she did not want other women to experience what she described as a longstanding culture within the organization.Previously: SF Chinese Chamber of Commerce Faces Lawsuit, Sexual Misconduct Claims as Board President Steps Down ...read more read less