Allentown lawyers and City Council members on Thursday will announce the results of an investigation into alleged discrimination among city hall employees, which council authorized earlier this year.
According to a media advisory, council members and Duane Morris lawyers will hold a press conference at 11 a.m. in council chambers to address the “findings and recommendations” of their eight-month probe.
City Council in January voted to hire Duane Morris, a Philadelphia-based firm, to conduct an investigation into allegations of widespread discrimination at city hall.
Public allegations of City Hall discrimination date to July 2023, when the Allentown NAACP penned an open letter accusing Mayor Matt Tuerk and other city leaders of failing to address racism and discrimination made by at least 10 employees. Tuerk has said the city takes the allegations seriously and denied that his administration has ignored them.
City Council originally voted in June 2024 to hire Scott Curtis, a former FBI agent who led a probe into former Mayor Ed Pawlowski’s pay-to-play schemes, to conduct the independent investigation. However, Tuerk declared Curtis’ contract “void” because he said council did not follow proper legal procedures to hire him.
Reporter Lindsay Weber can be reached at Liweber@mcall.com.

