Former state lawmaker and gubernatorial candidate Steve Nunn has been placed on unpaid administrative leave from his state job after a Lexington woman accused him of domestic violence.

Nunn is deputy secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, which oversees the state's domestic violence programs. He was placed on administrative leave on Feb. 19, according to cabinet spokeswoman Vikki Franklin.

A day earlier, Amanda Ross filed a domestic violence petition that claimed Nunn "hit me four times in my face, broke a lamp, scratched the hallway wall (and was) verbally abusive," according to a report by WHAS-TV in Louisville. Ross said she called police "because this has happened many times before," but did not file criminal charges, the TV station reported.

Nunn, the son of former Gov. Louie B. Nunn, also serves as the cabinet's acting commissioner of the Department for Mental Health, Development Disabilities and Addiction Services.