Four women who accused Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill of groping them at a party last year filed a federal lawsuit against him on Tuesday, alleging sexual harassment, retaliation, gender discrimination and defamation, among other claims.

The four plaintiffs, who all work for the state of Indiana, first went public with their allegations last summer. State Rep. Mara Candelaria Reardon and statehouse employees Gabrielle McLemore, Samantha Lozano and Niki DaSilva said Hill touched their backs or buttocks inappropriately at an annual gathering last March marking the end of the legislative session.

Lozano said she witnessed Hill approach Reardon, “place his hand on her back and slide his hand down Ms. Reardon’s buttocks and grab Ms. Reardon underneath her dress,” according to the lawsuit.

DaSilva said Hill touched her lower back and her buttocks; and Lozano and McLemore said the attorney general inappropriately touched their backs.

“I was just worried, ‘What are other people thinking around me?’” McLemore told the Daily Beast of the unwanted encounter. “‘Do they think that I want him to be rubbing my back?’ ‘Does it look like I invited him over?’”

The women also claim they suffered retaliation by the Office of the Attorney General and other staffers after they came forward with their allegations.

“They’ve been mocked and ridiculed by their colleagues,” the women’s attorney Hannah Kaufman Joseph said at a press conference on Tuesday, according to the Indianapolis Star. “They’ve been the subject of very negative reactions by both legislative members, lawmakers themselves and the staff.”