New York City Mayor Eric Adams is facing serious allegations of sexual assault dating back to 1993. The accusations come from a lawsuit filed against the mayor by a former NYPD aide and could cause some significant problems for Adams.

At the heart of this legal action is a complaint filed under the Adult Survivors Act, a law that reopened the window for pursuing justice for past sexual assault cases that exceeded the statute of limitations.

The plaintiff, once an administrative aide for the police department’s transit division, claims Adams assaulted her in a vacant lot after she sought his advice for career advancement. The suit alleges that a quid pro quo sexual favor turned into an assault when she refused to give in to the mayor’s advances.

A woman accused Mayor Eric Adams in a lawsuit of asking her for oral sex in exchange for career help in 1993 and sexually assaulting her when she refused.

The allegation was made on Monday in a legal complaint connected to a lawsuit that the woman originally filed in November in Manhattan under the Adult Survivors Act. The woman, who worked with Mr. Adams at New York City’s transit police bureau, claimed she asked him for help after she had been passed over for a promotion.

Mr. Adams, who was a police officer, drove the woman, an administrative aide with the department, to a vacant lot and requested oral sex, according to the 26-page complaint. When she declined, he forced her to touch his penis and ejaculated on her leg, the complaint says.

“The effects of that sexual assault, betrayal and astonishing abuse of power, continue to haunt plaintiff to this day,” the complaint said.

Mr. Adams, a Democrat, has repeatedly denied assaulting the woman. The mayor’s office released a statement from Sylvia O. Hinds-Radix, New York City’s corporation counsel, denying the allegations.

“While we review the complaint, the mayor fully denies these outrageous allegations and the events described here; we expect full vindication in court,” she said.

The plaintiff claims she was passed over for promotions while working for the Transit Bureau even though she passed promotional exams and was told she was “next in line” for a promotion. Adams was a “high-ranking member” of the organization, which prompted the plaintiff to discuss her problems with getting promoted.

She is also suing the City of New York and the NYPD Transit Bureau for negligence. The plaintiff seeks damages for gender discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, and enabling a crime of gender-motivated violence.

During a community meeting in December, Adams said the incident “never happened” and that he doesn’t “even know who the person is.”

This is not the first lawsuit the plaintiff has filed.

The plaintiff has filed other lawsuits in the past. In 2008, she sued American Airlines and lost, arguing that an employee had caused her to fall out of a wheelchair, injuring her back.

She sued the Miami-Dade County Public Schools Board in 2009, arguing that she was denied compensation after she was attacked by a student. She lost at trial and then appealed parts of the decision to the Florida Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court, where she won several procedural motions but failed to win a retrial.

She also wrote a book teaching readers how they can file lawsuits and represent themselves in court. Although, for this case, she has retained counsel.