A fourth Allentown employee has filed a lawsuit against the city, claiming she experienced illegal discrimination and seeking monetary damages.

Tatiana Tooley, Allentown’s former human relations officer, filed a lawsuit in federal court on Aug. 10, claiming that her treatment while employed with the city violated state and federal civil rights laws. Tooley is 56 years old and a Latina of Panamanian origin, and claims she was discriminated against and wrongfully fired against based on her age, race and national origin.

According to the lawsuit, Tooley was hired in 2019 as the city’s human relations officer in the Department of Community and Economic Development. In that role, she was responsible for overseeing the Human Relations Commission, overseeing investigations into discrimination-related complaints filed through that commission, and educating Allentown residents about landlord-tenant laws and helping to resolve that type of dispute.

In late 2021, Tooley and her supervisor at the time, Leonard Lightner, collaborated on a plan to create an Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and appoint Tooley as the manager of that office, the suit says.

Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk indicated to Tooley shortly after he took office in January 2022 that he supported the DEI initiative, but “did not take any steps” to formalize the plan, the suit says.

According to the suit, in a May 2022 meeting, Tuerk told Tooley that he envisioned Tooley’s role as DEI manager as “substantially more limited” than Tooley and Lightner’s original plan, and her duties as human resources officer would be re-assigned to other employees, who were white.

Tuerk in summer 2022 asked Tooley to create a resolution and job description for a manager of equity and inclusion, which City Council would approve via a vote at a formal meeting. Tooley wrote the resolution and job description and sent it to Tuerk, but Tuerk never forwarded the resolution and description for a council vote, according to the lawsuit.

“During the months that followed, Mayor Matt Tuerk proceeded to fire or constructively discharge a number of older, minority employees in senior positions and replace them with younger, White employees,” according to the lawsuit.

While Tuerk declined to formalize Tooley’s new role as a DEI manager, she fielded complaints from employees frustrated by other instances of alleged “severe, pervasive and regular discrimination” in city hall in her capacity as human relations officers, she claims.

However, she could not address employees’ complaints adequately because her duties as human resources officer were re-assigned to other employees. Unable to resolve the employees’ complaints via official channels, she held meetings in her home with employees where they discussed the alleged discrimination they faced at work, lawyers allege.

The situation caused her “severe distress” because she was “stripped of her authority to enforce anti-discrimination laws and placed in a situation whereby her inability to address these issues reflected poorly on her job performance, even though it was outside her job description,” according to the lawsuit. She sought help from a mental health therapist in summer 2022 due to the stress.

“It became increasingly clear to Mrs. Tooley that Mayor Matt Tuerk had no intention of formally and officially transitioning Mrs. Tooley to a position under his direct supervision in the Office of the Mayor due to her age, race, and national origin,” the lawsuit writes.

In October, Tuerk called Tooley into a meeting with several city lawyers and fired her. Prior to the meeting, City Council members Cynthia Mota and Daryl Hendricks alerted Tooley to a post on the internet blog Lehigh Valley Ramblings, where local blogger Bernie O’Hare reported that Tuerk fired former parks Director Karen-El Chaar, and may fire Tooley and the city’s IT director next, the suit says.

Tuerk and the city lawyers asked Tooley to sign a release of liability in exchange for eight weeks of severance pay, which Tooley refused, the suit says.

Neither Tuerk nor the lawyers told her why she was being fired, the lawsuit alleges; she only received positive feedback on her job performance and was never disciplined.

Tooley is the fourth former or current employee to sue Allentown on discrimination grounds; Tawanna Whitehead, the city’s deputy city clerk; Nadeem Shahzad, former human resources director; and Karen Ocasio, former human resources generalist, have also filed lawsuits claiming they faced illegal discrimination while employed by the city. Shahzad’s complaint was dismissed by a federal judge; the two other lawsuits are ongoing.

Tooley is represented by attorney Ryan Allen Hancock from the Philadelphia firm Willig, Williams & Davidson. He did not immediately return an emailed request for additional comment.

The Morning Call has reached out to the city for comment. Tuerk has previously said that he does not tolerate discrimination in Allentown city hall.

Reporter Lindsay Weber can be reached at Liweber@mcall.com.