ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Another former Allentown city worker has sued the city, saying she was illegally fired for speaking out against discrimination in the workplace.
Karen Ocasio, a former human resources employee with the City of Allentown, filed the lawsuit against the city on Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
In the suit, Ocasio says Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk fired her because she was outspoken on the issue of racial and ethnic discrimination within the City’s workforce.
She says that as the only non-Caucasian in the HR department, she was being subjected to racial/ethnic hostility and disparate treatment, the suit says.
Ocasio was hired by the city in 2020, and in 2022, she submitted a complaint of discrimination to the city’s solicitor. Ocasio reported her concerns to one of Mayor Tuerk’s top aides, who then accused her of spreading rumors, the suit says. When Karen took her concerns directly to Tuerk, he promptly ignored her, according to the document.
The lawsuit lists several allegations of discrimination, including being denied training and support in her new role, exclusion from managers’ meetings, and comments that her former work area was referred to as “Mexico,” while the managers’ area was called “the United States.”
In early 2023, Ocasio says she went out on medical leave due to the increasingly hostile work environment and the stress it was causing. When she returned to work later that year, she was not given her same position back, the suit says. Instead, she was demoted and her belongings had been scattered outside her former office.
Tuerk began to pressure the new HR Director, Nadeem Shahzad, to fire Ocasio, as he considered her to be a “troublemaker” due to her complaints of discrimination, the lawsuit claims.
However, when Shahzad evaluated her performance, he found no deficiencies and declined to terminate her employment, the suit says. Tuerk fired Shahzad the summer of 2023. He filed a lawsuit in October against the city.
Ocasio says she then told City Council about the discrimination she had been facing. She informed them of Tuerk’s lack of responsiveness and called for an outside investigation, the suit says. On Nov. 20, 2023, the mayor abruptly fired her, with no explanation given, and there was no prior warning or corrective action, Ocasio claims.
The lawsuit states Ocasio urges the court to order the City of Allentown to adhere to and enforce a policy prohibiting discrimination and/or retaliation in the workplace. Ocasio also desires monetary compensation as well as compensation for damages done to her mental health.
Allegations of discrimination at Allentown City Hall and the systems in place to report it have been the subject of several investigations in recent years.
One was by the law firm Duane Morris that recommended an overhaul of HR practices, as well as one conducted by former FBI agent Scott Curtis.
When reached out to for comment, the city responded: “The City of Allentown does not comment on active litigation.”