BUFFALO, N.Y. — In Hearing Room 3 at the Mahoney State Office building, in downtown Buffalo, a state human rights judge will hear three days of testimony and cross-examination before Saturday.
It's the continuation of three days of testimony back in August.
The Division of Human Rights granted these hearings to Tiffany Celotto of Hamburg after she filed a complaint against her former employer, the New York State Department of Transportation, as well as her supervisor, John Ryan for a "Hostile Work Environment because of Sex, Sex discrimination, and Retaliation for Opposing Discrimination."
She was granted these hearings after the Division of Human Rights determined she had sufficient probable cause.
Tiffany Celotto first shared her story with 2 On Your Side back in 2017, at the height of the "Me Too" movement.
Celotto was hired by NYSDOT in 2013. She worked as a traffic signal technician and had been the only female technician working at the Evans Street NYSDOT location in Hamburg.
She says the harassment came mostly from her former supervisor, but Celotto calls out the state for failing to protect her rights.
The state's lawyers declined to comment Wednesday deferring to the NYSDOT press office. The regional spokesperson did not immediately return our information requests.
Andy Fleming, who represents John Ryan, also turned us down today.
In prior interviews, Lindy Korn, who represents Celotto, had said that sexual harassment cases are extremely hard to prove.
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"There are upstanders and there are bystanders in this world and Tiffany's an upstander," said Korn of her client Wednesday. "I'm proud of her."
Celotto is one of a number of witnesses who have appeared to testify before the judge. Testimony resumes Thursday with witnesses for NYSDOT.
After hearing testimony, the administrative law judge will make recommendations to the Human Rights Commissioner who will then issue a final order on the complaint.
Korn added Wednesday that a determination from the Commissioner of the Division of Human Rights could take anywhere from six months to two years.