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Law360 (August 11, 2020, 7:43 PM EDT) -- Connecticut's former top public health official has claimed that she was fired because she is Black and a woman, saying she was stripped of her role while the state was in the middle of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Renee Coleman-Mitchell, who had been the Connecticut commissioner of public health, released a statement Monday alleging she was "fired for discriminatory reasons." She said that even though she is "highly educated and credentialed," she was terminated over the phone in May.
"I have decided that after all my decades of public health service cultivating my successful career as a black woman acutely aware of how much more qualified I need to be just for consideration amongst my peers, I will not be invalidated at this point by those doing the administration's bidding," Coleman-Mitchell said. "Nor will I be disposed of like trash. I merit recompense for my service to the state and the treatment I am enduring."
Coleman-Mitchell said in her statement that in February, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont made her the subordinate of his chief operating officer, who is a white man.
The COO took over her duties and also her staff members as a way to void her power, the statement said.
She had made the governor's office aware of the dangers the COVID-19 pandemic posed to nursing homes, their residents and workers, she said, but those concerns were met "with stiff opposition," and she was shut out of policy conversations about how to respond to the pandemic. She said she was "prohibited from implementing nursing home protocols that would have saved lives."
She said that she was "ambushed" by her firing, which was done over the phone the night of May 11, and she added that she wasn't given any specifics on why the decision was made but was simply told that "the governor is going in a different direction."
That stood in contrast to the praise she received not long before for initiatives she started, like a rollout of testing vans to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, she claimed.
"The governor made it clear that my performance was not an issue and promised me a separation package consisting of salary, benefits and a letter of recommendation reflecting my accomplishments while commissioner," Coleman-Mitchell claimed. "He did not keep his promise."
Lamont announced Coleman-Mitchell's departure in May and said at the time that Deidre Gifford, who had been the state's Department of Social Services commissioner, would serve as acting Department of Public Health commissioner. The governor's news release at the time didn't give a reason for Coleman-Mitchell's departure.
Eric R. Brown, an attorney for Coleman-Mitchell, declined to comment to Law360 on Tuesday, but said that no lawsuit has been filed yet.
A representative for Lamont could not immediately be reached for comment on Tuesday.
--Editing by Jack Karp.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
