The Public Interest Law Center has filed an employment discrimination complaint with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission (PHRC) on behalf of Bariq Fluellen, a 12-year veteran Philadelphia firefighter who has been the target of racial harassment and threats due to his hairstyle.
PHILADELPHIA – In response to a troubling nationwide effort to weaken fair housing enforcement, civil rights groups are taking action to attempt to block the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) premature termination of a federal consent order that holds ESSA Bank & Trust accountable for alleged discriminatory redlining in majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in and […]
A Black man who was denied employment by convenience store chain Sheetz has moved to intervene in a federal criminal history discrimination lawsuit after the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) notified plaintiffs that it plans to drop the case—not based on the evidence, but due to a directive from President Trump.
Fair housing organizations took action to oppose the U.S. Department of Justice’s motion to prematurely terminate a federal Consent Order that holds Lakeland Bank (now part of Provident Bank) accountable for years of alleged discriminatory lending practices in Black and Latino neighborhoods across the Newark metro region.
In attempt to end the epidemic of the lead poisoning of Philadelphia children, city law requires all landlords to certify to tenants and to the Philadelphia Department of Public Health that a rental is either lead-safe or lead-free. The same law requires the Health Department to publicly publish the certification status of each property in […]
Yesterday, three Philadelphia residents of Bentley Manor, a large apartment complex in West Oak Lane, filed a class action lawsuit against Odin Properties LLC, one of Philadelphia’s largest landlords that is believed to own or manage over 1,500 apartments in the city, and the related companies that own and operate the building. Four months ago, […]
In 2022, Education Voters of PA filed a Right to Know request to examine how Commonwealth Charter Academy (CCA), Pennsylvania’s largest cyber charter school, spends public money to reimburse families for activities and classes outside of the school day. After CCA refused to provide the requested records, the Public Interest Law Center represented Education Voters […]
Update 6/23/2025: Reminder that the IDEA and Pennsylvania Department of Education policy require all school districts to provide special education services to eligible students until their 22nd birthdays. While there has been ongoing litigation about this issue, nothing has changed this obligation. Please contact the Law Center (cramsey@pubintlaw.org or 267-546-1314) if your student is being […]
Seniors living in the Brith Sholom House apartment building in Wynnefield Heights–one of Philadelphia’s few affordable senior housing complexes–experience unacceptable conditions every day: broken plumbing systems, exposed wires, leaking pipes, pest infestations, fire code violations that threaten their safety, and much more. The Department of Licenses and Inspections has found more than 100 serious code […]
