A former Marin County prosecutor has sued the county, alleging she was told to abandon a temporary move to Pennsylvania, resign or be fired, after years of what she describes as a hostile workplace defined by sex discrimination, harassment and retaliation. Lisa Sharkey, who worked in the Marin County District Attorney's Office for three years, filed the complaint in Marin County Superior Court on August 10, according to the lawsuit.
Sharkey's suit, first reported by The Press Democrat, alleges that a county employment director told her to leave Pennsylvania, resign or be fired. She says she had wanted to telework from the state in 2023 while temporarily living there. Sharkey now works at Renne Public Law Group in San Francisco, where she joined as an associate in January 2025 after more than a decade of criminal prosecution experience across five California agencies, according to Renne Public Law Group, which notes she tried 35 jury trials and secured 31 convictions, largely in domestic violence cases.
According to the lawsuit, Sharkey pleaded with District Attorney Lori Frugoli for help with an increasingly high and untenable caseload, but Frugoli provided no help. Sharkey claims Frugoli also declined to promote her because of her sex, and alleges that men were treated more favorably for inferior work performance. Her complaint spans sex discrimination, sex harassment, retaliation, and pregnancy and childbirth discrimination.
Demotion After Maternity Leave
Per the lawsuit, Sharkey was reassigned to a lower-level position after returning from leave, a move she viewed as retaliation for taking time off rather than a routine staffing decision. California's Pregnancy Disability Leave Law, under Government Code § 12945, requires covered employers to provide up to four months of job-protected leave for pregnancy or childbirth and to guarantee reinstatement to the same or a comparable position, according to FindLaw. The state's Fair Employment and Housing Act, Government Code § 12940, separately bars employers from demoting or retaliating against workers for exercising protected leave rights.
Sharkey alleges the district attorney's office was a hostile work environment for her and women coworkers alike, and that the office saw a mass exodus of 13 women employees, according to the lawsuit. She resigned from the office on August 25, 2023, which her complaint describes as happening under duress and amid a mental health crisis, according to the complaint, as first detailed by Press Democrat reporter Jon King. After leaving Marin, Sharkey worked as a Deputy District Attorney III with the Napa County District Attorney's Office starting in early 2024, according to the Napa County District Attorney's Office, before moving into private public-interest practice.
A Pattern of Departures Under Frugoli
Sharkey's account of a hollowed-out office echoes independent local reporting from 2023, when the Pacific Sun found that more than 36% of the Marin County DA's 30 prosecutors had resigned over a two-year span, straining caseloads and complicating recruitment under Frugoli. That turnover predates Sharkey's own resignation and lines up with her allegations of an office stretched thin and unwilling to address her workload concerns.
Marin County paid a $2.5 million settlement in 2025 to former prosecution investigator Amy Nagy, who sued the county in 2022 over alleged workplace harassment and gender discrimination. Nagy said a supervisor demeaned and harassed her, and she alleged that Frugoli did not act on her complaints. Jonathan Madarang, the supervisor named in that case, retired shortly after Nagy filed suit, agreed to reimburse the county $10,000 toward settlement costs, and did not admit wrongdoing, nor did the county, as part of the settlement.
DA's Office Response and What Comes Next
Marin County Counsel Brandon Halter said his staff will review the lawsuit and respond as necessary, and separately said the district attorney's office is committed to a workplace free of discrimination, harassment and retaliation. Frugoli declined to comment on the lawsuit. Sharkey is seeking unspecified damages for emotional distress as well as lost wages and benefits, and the first hearing in the case is scheduled for December 29.
Frugoli was first elected Marin County District Attorney in November 2018 in a race decided by just 386 votes, after 27 years as a deputy district attorney and earlier work as a police officer and sheriff's deputy, per SFGATE. She ran unopposed for a second term in November 2022, drawing 59,159 votes, according to Marin County Elections records. Sharkey's suit lands amid other legal scrutiny of the office: in July, defense attorney Tyler Smith filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Frugoli and senior staff alleging evidence fabrication and malicious prosecution following three failed prosecution attempts tied to a civil compromise.
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