A former Allentown employee who has publicly claimed she was subject to discrimination while working in city hall has sued the city in federal court, alleging illegal discrimination and retaliation.
Karen Ocasio, a former human resources generalist for Allentown, is seeking back pay, compensatory damages and other legal relief.
Ocasio frequently attends Allentown City Council meeting and has spoken during public comment, alleging that she was bullied and discriminated against by her co-workers and that the city failed to address her complaints when she reported them to human resources. She was fired in November 2023, around two months after she first spoke publicly about the alleged discrimination she faced at work.
Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk has previously denied that Ocasio’s firing was retaliatory.
According to Ocasio’s legal complaint, filed Monday in the federal District Court for Eastern Pennsylvania, Ocasio had worked for Allentown since 2018, beginning as a police department clerk before being promoted to coordinator within the human resources department in 2020.
While working for human resources, Ocasio, who was the only nonwhite person in the department at the time, was denied training and assistance, and was excluded from managers’ meetings and prospective employee interviews, the lawsuit alleges. In late 2022, Ocasio reported her complaints to Tuerk, who allegedly told Ocasio that she was “the only one who seemed to have a problem.”
Ocasio filed complaints with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that same year, and took a medical leave of absence in 2023 “due to the increasingly hostile work environment and the stress it was causing,” Ocasio’s lawsuit alleges.
When she returned that summer, she was demoted to human resources generalist, which the lawsuit alleges was retaliatory due to her complaint.
Ocasio is the third Allentown employee to sue the city for alleged illegal discrimination. Former Human Resources Director Nadeem Shahzad and Deputy City Clerk Tawanna Whitehead also have pending lawsuits against the city over similar allegations. All three are represented by attorney Marc Weinstein.
Ocasio’s complaint also alleges that Tuerk asked Shahzad, who was hired as human resources director in June 2023, to fire her, which he refused to do because he did not find any problems with Ocasio’s work performance, the lawsuit alleges.
An Allentown city spokesperson has previously said Allentown does not comment on pending litigation.