The New York State Inspector General's Office released its findings surrounding the death of an employee that worked for the state Office of Information Technology Services in September 2020.

“When she reached out for help, it fell on deaf ears,” Inspector General Lucy Lang said at the state’s Crime Victims Memorial on Thursday.

The victim’s husband, who was employed by the state Office of General Services, killed her before taking his own life. Lang said both agencies were aware of ongoing issues between the couple dating back to a year before the tragic end.

“She disclosed to certain senior ITS employees that she was the victim of domestic violence by her husband, and was using her state-issued cellphone to document his behavior and abuse,” Deputy Inspector General Jessica Silver said.

This was after her husband filed two complaints against his wife regarding her use of the cell phone. The victim told her superiors her husband had been monitoring her personal cell phone, and that she needed evidence for a protection order.

“Senior employees in the labor relations and legal departments denied her request without first the opportunity to review the materials,” Silver said.

Instead, disciplinary action was taken and a counseling memo was issued.

“ITS senior employees had little, if any, knowledge about their domestic violence policies,” Silver concluded.

An ITS spokesperson released a statement following the release of the IG’s report.

It said, in part, “ITS worked closed with the Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence to revise and strengthen its domestic violence policy, and communicated its importance to agency employees.”

OGS officials have also spoken out, saying the agency is working to ensure all employees understand the state's domestic violence policies. Efforts are underway to provide supervisors with additional training to communicate with and support staff suffering from trauma.

“A written policy is only as good as how effectively it is implemented,” Lang said.

The inspector general's office has suggested a series of recommendations to state agencies to prevent something like this from happening again, and is launching a review of all agencies and their policies regarding domestic violence.

“To help us elevate these issues that have too long been obscured from public view,” she said.