ALLENTOWN, Pa. – A federal discrimination lawsuit filed against Allentown is now in the hands of a jury.
Former Allentown human resources employee Karen Ocasio claims she was fired because she was outspoken on the issue of racial and ethnic discrimination within the city’s workforce.
The courtroom heard closing arguments from both Ocasio’s attorney as well as the city’s legal team Wednesday. It’ll now be up to the jury to determine the suit’s outcome.
Ocasio’s lawyer says this is his client’s only chance.
He says evidence in her favor is a lot more corroborated than what was presented by the city.
Her lawyer is making the case that Ocasio was promoted and was a good employee, citing testimony from the city’s former HR director Nadeem Shazad Tuesday.
Ocasio’s lawyer went on to say that Ocasio was not toxic, despite what the city says an outside investigation revealed.
He says two of Ocasio’s directors testified she was a good employee.
Ocasio’s attorney says the attorney doing the outside investigation had financial incentive since she was being paid $175 per hour by the city to work on it. He claims it’s a report only the attorney working on it and Mayor Tuerk knew about.
Mayor Tuerk had testified Tuesday that he never had any contact with the attorney conducting the outside investigation.
The city’s defense team said during closing arguments the Mayor has no animosity and never had an agenda against Ocasio.
They say, in the outside investigation that was done, that 13 people who worked with Ocasio said she was the most complained-about employee.
They say the attorney who did the outside report gave a full accounting.