A former aide sued Colorado state Rep. Sheila Lieder last week, alleging the Littleton Democrat duped her into working on her political campaign and drove her to quit over vacation plans.
Jennifer Chick, who worked for Lieder between December 2022 and August 2024, filed the lawsuit Friday in Denver District Court. She was “forced to resign from her position in the face of unbearable, continued retaliation from Representative Lieder,” according to the lawsuit.
Lieder, citing advice from counsel, declined to comment on the allegations. Lieder was first elected in 2022 and was reelected in 2024. She is now running for state senate.
Chick said in the lawsuit that the problems began when she sought to use medical leave and short-term disability benefits. Chick faced “acute deterioration of her mental health,” due in part to harsh working conditions she blamed on Lieder, that ultimately required hospitalization.
Chick later filed a grievance to complain about the difficulty in accessing the benefits and was vocal about the lack of human resources to help employees, according to the lawsuit. After filing the grievance, Chick accused Lieder of bad-mouthing her to other lawmakers.
Aides are directly employed by the legislator they work for, though Chick was eventually able to get assistance from the Office of Legislative Workplace Relations.
Lieder also tried multiple times to recruit Chick to work on her reelection campaign, according to the lawsuit. Chick, whose politics don’t align with Lieder’s, declined. But Lieder would nonetheless require her aide to attend events under the guise of official work, only for it to become apparent that Lieder was fundraising.
Chick stated she felt compelled to stay and work the events out of concern Lieder would retaliate against her, according to the lawsuit. But because state law prevents the use of state resources, including on-the-clock workers, for political campaigns, Chick could not claim those hours on her timesheet.
“By this conduct, Defendant Lieder effectively forced Ms. Chick to work for her campaign, unpaid, on multiple occasions,” the lawsuit states.
The situation came to a head when Chick tried to take an unpaid vacation. According to the lawsuit, Chick offered to work remotely in case of an emergency. Lieder accused her of trying to work remotely and not actually take vacation, according to the lawsuit. Frustrated by “bad faith conduct,” Chick resigned soon after.
In her Aug. 15, 2024, resignation letter, obtained separately by The Denver Post, Chick called Lieder “aggressive and condescending in your tone,” and said that she commonly “felt like I had to walk on eggshells.” The letter ended with Chick writing, in bold, “please do not contact me any further.”
The lawsuit also names House Speaker Julie McCluskie and Majority Leader Monica Duran for their roles as the heads of the Democratic caucus, and asserts they bear some responsibility for employee relations. They each declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing advice from their attorney.
In a statement, Chick’s attorney, Lisi Owen, said that the lawsuit looks to improve working conditions for legislative aides at the Capitol and she and Chick hope the action “will help other aides feel empowered to stand up for themselves.”
“It is not acceptable that the people we elect to the House of Representatives, who are supposed to serve the public interest, can retaliate and mistreat their employees with impunity,” Owens wrote. “This lawsuit seeks accountability from those who were directly responsible for causing harm to Ms. Chick.”
The lawsuit is the latest instance of legislative aides accusing a member of the General Assembly of poor management.
State Rep. Regina English, a Colorado Springs Democrat, faced several accusations of retaliation and mistreatment, including a complaint of sexual harassment against one of her relatives. English is running for reelection and won her June primary.
Former state Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis, a Longmont Democrat, resigned during an ethics investigation in 2025 over allegations she tried to withhold pay from one employee and required others to perform work on her house. She was later convicted of several felonies for forging letters of support while trying to avoid disciplinary action.
