SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California state Treasurer Fiona Ma repeatedly shared hotel rooms with employees and that's a practice business experts say is problematic.

The hotel room sharing was revealed in expense reports obtained by the Sacramento Bee and reported Tuesday.

The news follows a lawsuit by a former employee who shared a hotel room with Ma and alleges sexual harassment and wrongful termination. Ma denies the lawsuit's claims and says she shared lodging to save money. Ma is a Democrat and was elected state treasurer in 2018.

The Bee reports Ma shared a hotel room with her chief of staff more than a dozen times and shared lodging with other employees.