Elderly Woman Sues César Chávez Foundations Over Alleged Sexual Assault

Jane Doe, an 86-year-old former labor activist, filed a civil suit in Kern County Superior Court alleging that the UFW Foundation and the César Chávez Foundation facilitated and covered up repeated sexual assaults by César Chávez. She recounts that Chávez sent her husband away, intoxicated her at a party, and later raped her in her marital bed while his bodyguard stood guard, and that he later forced his genitalia onto her head in a separate encounter.

The complaint asserts that employees of the United Farm Workers were aware of the abuse but concealed it, allowing assaults to occur in private. The César Chávez Foundation responded that it had only just learned of the allegations and is consulting counsel. The filing adds to a growing list of women, including Dolores Huerta, Ana Murguia and Debra Rojas, who have accused Chávez of sexual misconduct, and comes as California’s new “lookback window” permits survivors to sue institutions that hid such abuse.