Human Relations Commission

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Human Relations Commission Ordinance 2024-106 & Amended Ordinance 2024-138

Lehigh County

Human Relations Commission

Ordinance 2024-106

Ordinance 2024-138

LCHRC DISCRIMINATION COMPLAINT

In order for your discrimination complaint to be under the jurisdiction of the Lehigh County Human Relations Commission, you must be able to answer YES to all three of these questions:

1. Did the discrimination take place in Lehigh County?

2. Did the most recent incident of discrimination happen less than 180 days ago?

3. Is this complaint based on discrimination regarding a protected class listed on Page 8 of the Lehigh County’s Human Relations Ordinance?

If you answered NO to any of these questions, it’s likely your discrimination complaint is not under the jurisdiction of Lehigh County, and can’t be handled by the Commission.

If you answered yes to all three, please fill out and submit the complaint form below.

If you need help to fill out this form, call or email (Cyndi King 610-782-3565 or cyndiking@lehighcounty.org) and the Human Relations Commission will contact you.

The Discrimination Complaint form must be downloaded to your computer and saved. Remember to name this file so you can upload it as an attachment once you've filled it out and email it to cyndiking@lehighcounty.org.

CLICK HERE TO FILE A DISCRIMINATION COMPLAINT

What happens after you file your complaint:

After you file your complaint, it will be assigned a reference number and will be forwarded to the Lehigh County Human Relations Commission within ten (10) days.

Within thirty (30) days of receipt of your complaint by the Commission, the Commission will conduct a review to determine if the complaint is within its jurisdiction, including a determination as to whether the complaint sets forth enough facts to support the claim, which is known as a prima facie case of discrimination.

During this time a member of the Commission will contact you by either email, on the phone, or arrange for an in-person meeting, to further discuss your complaint, your information, and your evidence of discrimination. At this time, you are able to change or add to your complaint form information. You may also withdraw your complaint at this or any time.

If your complaint continues to be found to be within the jurisdiction of the Commission and your evidence demonstrates the merit of your complaint, the Commission will send a copy of it to the respondent who must respond to your complaint in writing within sixty (60) days. The Commission will also notify the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission of the complaint.

During this time the Commission will discuss your complaint with the respondent, to see what the respondent’s version of the issue is.

If the respondent admits to the discrimination, or if the respondent agrees to try to resolve the complaint, the Commission may act to help with the resolution of the complaint.

If the investigation of your discrimination complaint is found to have factual merit but the respondent does not agree to the evidence, a majority of the Human Relations Commission will adjudicate it and determine a resolution. The Commission may do this with the help of the Lehigh County Legal Department.

If your complaint is found to be justified either by the respondent agreeing to its accuracy, or by a determination by the Commission based on the evidence presented, you as the complainant may choose to use this determination as the grounds for a lawsuit that you bring with your own representation in the Court of Common Pleas of Lehigh County .

Statements of fact in the complaint and the response must be verified and are made subject to criminal penalties if they are made falsely.

Retaliation against you for filing the complaint is prohibited and would form the basis for a complaint by itself.

INAUGURAL BOARD OF LCHRC COMMISSIONERS

LEHIGH COUNTY HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSIONERS

Joanna Armstrong Liz Bradbury (CHAIR) Joyce Moore (SECRETARY)

Angela Baio Anthony Branco Luis A. Perez, Jr. (VICE-CHAIR)

Amy Beck Andrew Gildner Christopher Raad

Michael Blichar, Jr. Guillermo Lopez Pas Simpson

Anthony Swartz

Non-voting Advisor: Carmen Bell

2025 LEHIGH COUNTY HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION MEETINGS

2025 MEETINGS

The Lehigh County Human Relations Commission (LCHRC) will conduct public meetings on the second Tuesday of each month for the duration of 2024. The meetings will be conducted via ZOOM and are scheduled at 6:00 p.m..

The 2025 meeting dates are as follows: January 14, February 11, March 11, April 8, May 13, June 10, July 8, August 12, September 9, October 14, November 11, and December 9, 2025.

Additional information on the Council’s meetings, including agendas and ZOOM link, can be found here, on this page, at this Lehigh County Department of Community and Economic Development website three days prior to the scheduled meeting.