ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The City of Allentown is facing a lawsuit alleging racial discrimination in the workplace.
It accuses one City Council member in particular of making racist comments to staff in City Hall.
“No City of Allentown worker should be subjected to racial abuse from anyone, let alone a City Councilwoman,” said attorney Marc Weinstein.
Weinstein represents Deputy City Clerk Tawanna Whitehead, who claims City Councilwoman Candida Affa made multiple offensive and racist comments to her.
“I’m not talking about just little slights, I’m talking about explicit racial epithets,” said Weinstein.
We reached out to the City and Councilwoman Affa, but both declined to comment on pending litigation. Weinstein said he believes it will be hard for them to deny Whitehead’s claims.
“They know she’s not making this stuff up. They know that she’s not quote playing the race card here, because they have witnesses to it,” said Weinstein.
Weinstein said, despite being offended by the language, Whitehead never wanted her complaint to get this far.
“She made every effort to avoid a lawsuit by going to her superiors, by bringing this to the attention City Council leaders, to the lawyers, to HR, and nobody has done their job correctly to protect her,” said Weinstein.
Protect her by taking steps Weinstein said could have easily prevented racist confrontations with Councilwoman Affa.
“Why has City Council not publicly censured her? Why has City Council not taken her off committees? Why has the Mayor’s office not decided they’re not going to allow her in any place in City Hall other than where she votes?” said Weinstein.
Whitehead is seeking monetary damages and legal fees from the City, but Weinstein said she would also like to see the City change the way it handles concerns like these in the future.
“If we can avoid making mistakes like this in the future, maybe we can really get some good public servants that can help Allentown grow and develop and do great,” said Weinstein.
In the lawsuit, only the City of Allentown is named as a defendant. Weinstein told us they didn’t choose to name Affa as a defendant because Federal and State law make it difficult to sue individuals on claims like these.