Kosta Diamantis, a former Connecticut state budget official who was fired from one position and resigned from another last year, is arguing that he lost his job because of an unbearable work environment in the Lamont administration.
His attorney Zachary Reiland alleges that Diamaintis lost his job because of discrimination. He claims the Lamont administration set a trap to force Diamantis to resign after he complained about top administration officials, including former commissioner of the Department of Administrative Services Josh GeBalle.
“The mistreatment by his superiors, the mistreatment of others he worked with, specifically people of color. That mistreatment undoubtedly happened to Mr. Diamantis obviously when he was an employee,” said Reiland at a hearing of the state Employee Review Board.
The board is considering whether it has jurisdiction to take up Diamantis's complaint.
The state’s lawyer argues that the board doesn’t because Diamantis is no longer a state employee.
Reiland disagrees. “Mr. Diamantis was a state employee when he was subject to the hostile working environment, he was an employee when he spoke up for the mistreatment of others and he was an employee when he was pushed to the point of handing in his resignation, three hours before attempting to rescind it.” he argued.
Diamantis resigned last October after he was ensnared in an FBI corruption investigation of school construction contracts that he oversaw.
