A months-long outside investigation into alleged discrimination in Allentown City Hall found “instances of isolated discriminatory conduct” but no “systemic issue of racial or unlawful discrimination” in the city government.
Lawyers for Duane Morris, the law firm hired by City Council to conduct the investigation, also said that the city’s human resources department has been severely dysfunctional for years.
“The city’s human resources department has been grossly mismanaged and has not served the best interest of city employees for many years,” said Leigh Skipper, one of three Duane Morris lawyers who conducted the investigation.
City Council members and lawyers said they would not disclose any specific details about the investigation because it is a confidential personnel matter. They said they conducted 43 interviews and reviewed “tens of thousands” of documents, emails and files in order to come to their conclusions.
During the press conference, Duane Morris lawyers declined to say whether or not they had found a pattern of discrimination among employees in their investigation.
However, a press released authored by City Council members released following the event said that their investigation found “instances of isolated discriminatory conduct” but no “systemic issue of racial or unlawful discrimination” in the city government.
At the press conference, City Council President Daryl Hendricks also called a 2023 letter, authored by former NAACP Secretary Barbara Redmond and alleging widespread discrimination among city employees, a “sham.”
Despite the letter having the NAACP letterhead, it was not authorized by the president and vice president of the organization at the time, Hendricks said.
Hendricks also alleged that the complaints outlined in the letter, which included employees allegedly facing verbal attacks, hearing racial slurs and being subject to discriminatory dress code standards, were not vetted via NAACP’s formal complaint review process. Hendricks said that Redmond has been banned from associating with the NAACP for six years by the national headquarters.
Redmond, who arrived at the press conference about 15 minutes in, attempted to stand in front of the podium and address the media, and said that, “Everything that is in [the letter] is true.” She was escorted out of the room by a police officer.
Duane Morris lawyers made several recommendations to improve the city’s human resources department, and City Council members present at the press conference said they were “committed” to implementing those improvements.
One of Duane Morris’ recommendations includes implementing a data management system to track employee information including complaints and their resolutions, adverse employment actions and employee terminations. Michael Rinaldi, a Duane Morris lawyer, said it is “stunning” that the city currently lacks the ability to track that employee data.
Other recommendations include:
Review the organizational structure of human resources department and consider hiring additional human resources supervisors
Implement a policy requiring human resources to respond to complaints in a timely manner
Annual anti-discrimination training — such training now only is required upon an employee’s hire and sporadically thereafter
Lawyers said that although City Council is satisfied with the performance of Martin Velazquez, who was appointed to lead the department in February after the position was vacant for a year, policy overhauls are needed to ensure the department can thrive for years to come including after Velazquez leaves or retires.
“Some of this could have been a function of the years-long dysfunction in the HR department, but moving forward, the employees deserves a professional operation that starts by making sure that it’s current up to date, and follows HR practices across all city departments,” Skipper said.
City Council members and Duane Morris lawyers declined to answer specific follow-up questions about the investigation, including any action the city took against employees who perpetuated discrimination, or any further details other than the fact that a “pattern” of discrimination was not found.
City Council approved up to $500,000 to pay for Duane Morris’ investigation, and Maria Montero, council’s solicitor who oversaw Duane Morris’ work, said that the cost so far is currently under the budgeted amount.
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, Mayor Matt Tuerk declared Curtis’ contract “void” because he said council did not follow proper legal procedures to hire him.
City Council sued Tuerk and spent around $68,000 on a lawyer to represent them, but voted to suspend the lawsuit late last year. Hiring Duane Morris was the out-of-court compromise between council and the city which put an end to that legal dispute.
Genesis Ortega, spokesperson for the city of Allentown, said the mayor’s office had not yet received a copy or any information about the investigation’s findings.
Reporter Lindsay Weber can be reached at Liweber@mcall.com.
https://www.mcall.com/2025/09/04/allentown-discrimination-probe/
