Photo: J. Albert Diaz/ALM

Updated with comment from the firm.

A former human resources employee at DLA Piper claims that she was fired early this year after complaining that she was "physically afraid" to be near Louis Lehot, an influential Silicon Valley rainmaker who recently left the firm amid sexual assault allegations brought by a junior partner.

Lawyers at Wigdor LLP, the same firm that represented DLA Piper partner Vanina Guerrero in raising allegations about Lehot, on Monday lodged a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of an unnamed former human resources manager at the firm. According to a letter attached to the former employee's EEOC charge, she claims that Lehot threatened her after she refused to fire an administrative assistant he wanted terminated. The former HR employee further claims that she was fired after she complained to firm management that she feared being near Lehot or left alone with him.

The new filing comes the same day as Lehot made his first public comments since Guerrero's accusations against him became public. Guerrero accused Lehot of sexually assaulting her multiple times in the months after he recruited her to join the firm in an open letter published earlier this month. She also called on DLA Piper to release her from her mandatory arbitration agreement with the firm.

Lehot was fired from the firm several days after Guerrero went public with her story in an open letter to DLA Piper's leaders posted on the website Medium. DLA Piper has since put Guerrero on leave, pointing to allegations that she harassed another lawyer at the firm.

On Monday Lehot accused Guerrero of "exploiting the #MeToo movement to cover up her own issues." He also provided more than 40 pages of purported emails to reporters for The American Lawyer that show friendly exchanges between him and Guerrero during the period when she alleged she was assaulted repeatedly.

Lehot could not immediately be reached for comment on the allegations raised in the new filing with the EEOC.

"How many more women must come forward with tales of abuse by Louis Lehot before DLA Piper stops retaliating against female employees who dare report misconduct by male partners?" said Wigdor partner Jeanne Christensen, who represents both women. "Having now watched DLA Piper engage in a public campaign of victim-blaming and retaliation against Ms. Guerrero, it would come as no surprise if other women at DLA Piper with relevant information are terrified of coming forward," she said in a prepared statement.

Christensen has asked that the newly filed claim be related to the prior claim filed on behalf of Guerrero and that the EEOC investigate the claims on behalf of class of more than 40 women who worked in DLA Piper's offices in Sacramento, San Francisco and Palo Alto.

"The era of DLA Piper protecting its male rainmaking partners at the expense of the physical and emotional safety of the firm's female employees must come to an end," Christensen said.

DLA Piper, through a spokesman, said that Christensen was seeking to distract attention and interfere with the firm's ongoing investigation into her client's actions.

"Consistent with Ms. Christensen's previous communications with the media, her most recent letter is filled with inaccuracies and falsehoods, which will be demonstrated through the proper channels at EEOC," the firm said.

Read more:

Ex-DLA Piper Partner Denies Assault Claims, Blasts Accuser for 'Exploiting' #MeToo

DLA Piper Removes Female Partner Who Alleged Sex Assault, Triggering 'Smear Campaign' Accusation

Louis Lehot Pushed Out at DLA Piper Following Sexual Assault Allegations