A Miami-Dade County employee has filed a federal lawsuit accusing the county and two department leaders of retaliation, discrimination, and violating his constitutional rights after he raised concerns about workplace governance.
David Arnold Gray, a business architect in the Miami-Dade Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), filed the suit in December 2025 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The defendants include Miami-Dade County, HCD Director Nathan Kogon, and Assistant Director Christina Salinas-Cotter. Gray alleges that after reporting discriminatory treatment and misuse of authority, he was stripped of responsibilities and subjected to a retaliatory, hostile work environment.
Promotion and denied workstation
Gray has worked for Miami-Dade County since 2015, serving in various departments before joining HCD as a real estate analyst. He was promoted to business architect on Oct. 3, 2024, and describes the role as strategic, overseeing enterprise-level data reporting and compliance frameworks supporting federally funded housing programs.
“I was tasked with identifying system inefficiencies, in showing regulatory compliance, coordinating cross divisions, and advising leadership on how policy decisions translate into real-world program delivery,” he said.
According to the complaint, HCD traditionally assigns window workstations to senior staff upon promotion. Gray alleges that after his promotion, he requested a vacant window workstation but was denied without explanation.
“In senior-level roles, workspace isn't about comfort. It's about functionality and status recognition,” Gray explained, noting that confidential discussions and planning take place there. “The workstation symbolized whether the organization recognized the role as strategic, or whether it was being functionally downgraded, despite the title.”
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The lawsuit alleges that shortly after denying Gray, Salinas-Cotter assigned window workstations to three white male employees in similar classifications. Gray contends this constituted disparate treatment based on race and sex under Count I: Unlawful Employment Practices.
“This wasn't about space or resources. It was differential to treatment,” he said.
Christina Salinas-Cotter addresses Gray's concerns in an email. (Lawsuit exhibit)
The county’s motion to dismiss, filed in January 2026, argues that Gray is attempting to “constitutionalize his grievances” over routine decisions.
“The County does not comment on pending litigation,” Zach Vosseler, the attorney listed in the case, told The Miami Times.
Escalating concerns
The conflict escalated in early 2025 when Gray was assigned interns from Kendall Learning Academy, including students on the autism spectrum.
Nathan Kogon, HCD director and a defendant in the lawsuit.(The Integral Group)
Gray alleges he requested workspace accommodations but was denied, forcing two interns to work in a cramped 5-by-5-foot cubicle inside his workspace for several weeks.
“The conditions I observe bring serious concerns about how these interns are being treated,” Gray said.
In its motion to dismiss, the county states Salinas-Cotter was awaiting guidance from Human Resources because the interns were not part of the mayor’s official internship program. The motion says she informed Gray that space on the 16th floor would be available once a contractor completed renovations and that Gray agreed to find a temporary solution. When two interns arrived on Feb. 10, no workstations had been secured, and they worked inside his cubicle.
Gray said he viewed the situation as a broader accountability issue and sent an email petition raising concerns about policy violations.
In an email attached to the lawsuit, Salinas-Cotter stated that when Gray asked about a larger cubicle for him, she indicated it was reserved for another employee. She wrote that Gray “never said another word to me about identifying an alternative space” and called his allegations “false” and “harassment.”
“Your false claims and allegations constitute harassment, and I will take appropriate steps to report this behavior to the relevant authorities under all applicable laws and policies,” Salinas-Cotter wrote in the email.
Gray identifies the response as Count II: Petition Clause Violation and says it was meant to create a “chilling effect.”
“Instead of addressing the substance of the concerns, the response framed the issue as a problem with my conduct,” he said.
Ethics complaint and reassignment
In February 2025, Gray filed a complaint with the Miami-Dade County Commission on Ethics and Public Trust (COE). The commission dismissed it in May for lack of jurisdiction. Gray said he was disappointed but not surprised.
“I believe more was required; even if ethics could not adjudicate the claim, it should have treated the complaint as a valid entry point,” he said.
One day before the dismissal, Director Kogon informed Gray that he would now report directly to Salinas-Cotter.
In an email to Kogon, Gray wrote, “I filed an ethics complaint against Ms. Salinas-Cotter, which is pending before the Ethics Commission, with a hearing scheduled for today, May 14, 2025.”
He added that the reassignment could violate state and federal anti-retaliation laws under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Florida’s Whistleblower Law, forming the basis of Count III: Retaliatory Reassignment.
In response, Kogon said his decision was made objectively and independently to consolidate business architecture, data reporting, and metrics under one framework. According to the county’s motion to dismiss, Kogon stated he was not previously aware of the ethics complaint.
Gray said the move stripped him of authority.
“My employment status was effectively stripped of senior-level authority and reduced to administrative functions. I was required to report to someone who had previously been my peer,” he said.
Hostile environment allegations
Count IV of the lawsuit alleges a retaliatory hostile work environment. Gray claims Salinas-Cotter publicly undermined his expertise, excluded him from enterprise-level meetings, and hired a white business initiative manager to assume overlapping responsibilities, effectively sidelining him.
In its motion to dismiss, the county argues that “retaliatory hostile work environment” is not a viable legal claim under these circumstances and that the individual defendants are protected by qualified immunity.
Gray counters that his complaints addressed matters of public concern.
“The systems tell you to speak up and speak out when you see something,” he said. “But when you do, it's like these systems turn against you. You become, like, on an island all by yourself.”
He also links the internal dispute to public impact.
“When oversight weakens, the impact is felt most by residents — families displaced by redevelopment or tenants living in substandard housing,” he said. “The department's focus has shifted away from mission-driven public service toward internal positioning and optics.”
The conflict has created personal strain. Gray’s wife, who also works at HCD, was up for promotion during the dispute.
“The fear that retaliation will get towards her, to try to control me,” he said, noting his wife’s ask to now file the suit. “We have a two-year-old, it’s really stressful.”
What’s next
Gray is seeking more than $4 million in compensatory damages for emotional distress and reputational harm, along with punitive damages against Kogon and Salinas-Cotter. He is also asking the court to declare that his constitutional and statutory rights were violated and mandate policy changes and anti-discrimination training within the county.
The federal court must now decide whether to dismiss the case or allow it to proceed to the discovery phase.
“This case isn't about a guess or title. It's about accountability. Silence would have made me complacent,” Gray said. “Every workplace conflict is not a constitutional violation. However, there is a critical difference between a workplace disagreement and a deprivation of constitutional rights.”
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