HARRINGTON PARK — A police sergeant who filed a whistleblower lawsuit in 2018 that claimed workplace discrimination related to his Italian heritage, among other charges, is now alleging he was denied a promotion because of that suit.
The amended complaint, filed on Nov. 13 in state Superior Court by Sgt. Antimo Costagliola, states that Costagliola was not given a promotion to lieutenant despite "being far superior to the other candidate in every aspect of their law enforcement backgrounds, career, training, achievements and experience."
The borough, its police department and Police Chief Albert Maalouf are listed as defendants in the complaint.
Ryan Kiely, who was promoted to lieutenant instead of Costagliola last October, was a junior sergeant and Costagliola the more senior officer before the promotion, according to the lawsuit. Costagliola was hired in 2005, and Kiely was hired in 2006.
Costagliola was promoted to sergeant in 2015 as a supervisory officer over Kiely, who became a sergeant in 2020, according to the lawsuit.
Costagliola claims that the "motives behind the denied promotion are inextricably connected to the retaliatory motives" after he filed the 2018 lawsuit.
"He had been a sergeant for six years and was supervising for those six years," said his attorney, Eric Kleiner, in an interview. "The other candidate was barely on for a year [as a sergeant]. The only legitimate conclusion to draw is that it is further retaliation for his whistleblowing and this...
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