The state has filed a motion to dismiss the grievance filed by Konstantinos Diamantis, the former deputy secretary of the Office of Policy and Management still at the center of , that alleges mistreatment of his former boss Melissa McCaw by high-ranking members of Gov. Ned Lamont鈥檚 administration.
Diamantis was fired from his OPM position in October 2021 after administration officials learned that his daughter, Anastasia, had gotten a job with Chief State鈥檚 Attorney Richard Colangelo鈥檚 office while Colangelo was pressing Diamantis to help secure raises for his staff.
At that same time, state officials revealed the existence of a federal grand jury probe into the state鈥檚 school construction grants in his dual role as director of the Office of School Construction Grants and Review. The federal investigation is ongoing.
The 24-page grievance was initially filed in November 2021 on behalf of Diamantis and .
It specifically named Joshua Geballe and Paul Mounds, two of Gov. Ned Lamont鈥檚 top lieutenants, and alleged mistreatment of McCaw. Geballe has since left the administration for a job at Yale, and McCaw also resigned as OPM Secretary to take a job in East Hartford.
Both the grievance and the documents filed to support it were initially sealed, but the CT Mirror obtained a copy of the complaint. It was not clear Tuesday if the original complaint was still sealed.
Last week, on the state , the state Employee Review Board listed a public hearing for the Diamantis grievance, scheduled to start June 20.
On Tuesday, OPM released a copy of that was filed by Adam Garelick, an attorney for the Office of Labor Relations, on June 6.
Diamantis鈥� attorney Zachary Reiland, who filed the initial grievance, said this week鈥檚 hearing was postponed because of the state鈥檚 new motion. He declined to comment on the state鈥檚 motion.
Diamantis and his lawyer have 30 days to respond to the state鈥檚 motion to dismiss, which will likely now be addressed in September, Reiland said.
In the motion to dismiss, Garelick argued that the board should dismiss Diamantis鈥� grievance without a hearing because the board lacks jurisdiction to hear his appeal.
Among other things, the motion claims, Diamantis did not resign in good standing 鈥� a requirement for reinstating an employee who resigned 鈥� because he resigned while disciplinary action was pending and did not give two weeks鈥� notice, according to the motion.
Further, the motion argues, Diamantis did not meet the requirements to appeal to the Employee Review Board, which include receiving an unsatisfactory performance evaluation.
Garelick鈥檚 motion states that Diamantis 鈥渁dvances a plethora of wide-ranging and contradictory accusations against the state.鈥�
It states that Diamantis鈥� main claim, that Geballe improperly denied his request to rescind his retirement, doesn鈥檛 hold up to scrutiny.
鈥淭he Grievant did not resign in good standing and had no right to rescind his resignation,鈥� Garelick wrote.
Diamantis has said his removal was the consequence of a long-simmering power struggle between top Lamont aides and the Office of Policy and Management, one of the most influential state agencies by tradition and statutory authority.
Grudges and Zoom calls
Documents obtained by the CT Mirror show that Diamantis鈥� grievance had already been denied in two other closed sessions, before a DAS human resources officer and an arbitrator. The Employee Review Board is his last outlet under his state contract.
In his grievance, Diamantis alleges that Geballe and Mounds held a grudge against him for speaking out about the way they and other commissioners treated McCaw. (Geballe鈥檚 mother, Shelley Geballe, a lawyer and professor of public health at Yale, is a founding board member of the nonprofit 黑料吃瓜网 News Project Inc., operator of CTMirror.org.)
Diamantis describes secretly listening, at McCaw鈥檚 request, to Zoom meetings with other commissioners and state officials so he could 鈥渨itness the treatment she was receiving.鈥�
The grievance describes another Zoom meeting among state commissioners where McCaw addressed an unnamed commissioner鈥檚 鈥渁busive and disrespectful behavior toward the Secretary鈥� and charged it 鈥渨as rooted in racial discrimination/animus.鈥�
鈥淭he secretary respectfully expressed her discomfort with the treatment and requested that greater attention be given toward tone and professionalism in order to avoid making fellow employees uncomfortable,鈥� the grievance states.
The same day Diamantis was removed from the politically appointed OPM position, he was suspended with pay from his civil-service job overseeing school construction grants. Rather than accept the suspension, .
But within hours of doing so, he tried to rescind his retirement. Geballe denied his request, according to the grievance, saying that Diamantis hadn鈥檛 resigned in 鈥済ood standing.鈥�
The grievance also states that Geballe refused to rescind the retirement because of Diamantis鈥� 鈥渦nprofessional conduct,鈥� specifically citing two 鈥渋nappropriate text messages鈥� Diamantis sent on the evening of Oct. 28.
The first, to Mounds, read, 鈥淚鈥檓 coming / The truth is coming / Liars will come forward / Racists too.鈥�
Minutes later, he sent a text to Geballe that read: 鈥淚 hate liars and racists.鈥�
Kosta鈥檚 last day
Diamantis鈥� initial complaint goes into detail about his last day as a state employee 鈥� Oct. 28, 2021.
Diamantis said he was at the UConn Health Center with his gravely ill mother when McCaw called and asked him to come to her office. When he arrived, McCaw informed him that he was immediately terminated from his appointed position as OPM鈥檚 deputy secretary and that he was being placed on paid administrative leave from his classified position as director of the Office of School Construction Grants pending an internal investigation.
Diamantis had held the dual positions for nearly two years.
McCaw told him that the misconduct investigation pertained to his daughter鈥檚 hiring as an executive assistant to the Chief State鈥檚 Attorney and that it was an 鈥渋mproper quid pro quo鈥� arrangement, in which the Chief State鈥檚 Attorney would receive approval of a beneficial salary action by OPM and his daughter would receive the executive assistant position.
Diamantis claims the combination of his mother鈥檚 illness, the accusations made against him and his potential termination left him distraught and emotionally compromised.
An hour later, he met with OPM鈥檚 human resources officer to discuss which retirement benefits and possible payouts he would be owed depending on whether he retired or was fired.
At the same time Diamantis was reviewing his retirement papers, he received a letter from Lamont informing him he was relieved of his appointment at OPM. Diamantis then signed a letter of resignation and his retirement papers, according to the complaint.
The grievance said the decision to resign 鈥渃annot be separated from the surrounding circumstances. He was distraught, confused and overwhelmed by the fact that his 25 years of public service had inexplicably unraveled in less than two hours.鈥�
Three hours later, Diamantis asked OPM鈥檚 human resource director if he could rescind his resignation and submitted a letter to OPM officials asking to do so.
The next day, OPM officials asked Diamantis to come to headquarters and sign more documents, even though he was trying to rescind his resignation, the grievance states.
But that same day, Geballe denied his request to rescind his resignation, claiming that under state statutes Diamantis was not an 鈥渆mployee in good standing鈥� and therefore wouldn鈥檛 be rehired.
Geballe also cited Diamantis鈥� 鈥渦nprofessional behavior鈥� from the day before in sending the inappropriate texts to Mounds and himself.
