An employee lawsuit takes aim at Philly’s Register of Wills office, again

One of the first things John Sabatina did when he took over as Register of Wills at the start of the year was terminate 19 employees, according to a lawsuit filed by five of those employees.

The suit, filed Sept. 6 in federal court in Philadelphia, claims race and the employees’ political affiliation were motivating factors in Sabatina’s decision to let them go. One of the plaintiffs identifies as Arab and the other four identify as Black. The five employees either supported Sabatina’s opposition in the 2023 election, or they declined to support him directly, said the suit asking for a jury trial.

Lalla Meryem Amrani, Razia Daniels, Wazir El, Janice J. Johnson, and Ashley Williams claim they have not found work that meets or exceeds the pay and benefits they earned at the Register of Wills department.

The former workers, who’d been with the office from eight months to about four years, claim their civil rights were violated and they were retaliated against for exercising their First Amendment rights to support a political candidate of their choice.

Timothy Creech, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, said his clients were “rank-and-file employees” whose terminations were reminiscent of something that would happen at the hands of the infamous Tammany Hall New York Democratic political machine.

“Nothing changes, the city has done a good of eliminating patronage decisions in the many departments but not the Register of Wills,” he said.

The city directed any questions regarding the suit to the row office, which is independently operated and run. The Register of Wills Office declined to comment on pending litigation.

Sabatina, a Northeast Philly ward leader backed by the Democratic City Committee, campaigned on three priorities: educating the public on the importance of having a will, digitizing archives, and restoring trust in the office after years of scandals.

Sabatina beat out three primary challengers, including the incumbent Tracey Gordon, before defeating his Republican opponent in the general election.. Gordon had accumulated some scandals of her own before leaving the office.

Gordon hired and then let go a political consultant who stood accused of forging thousands of signatures in the 2019 Philadelphia Democratic primary and raised eyebrows when she let her daughter sell Eagles merchandise from the Register of Wills office in City Hall ahead of the Super Bowl. Five former staffers sued her, claiming they faced pressure to contribute to her reelection campaign and were fired for not doing so or not donating enough.

Lauren Cristella, president and CEO of the Committee of Seventy, a nonpartisan civic group, said she was not surprised by another lawsuit against the register of wills. The group has been calling for the abolition of the row office and five others since 2009. When the group first presented the idea, it was said the city could save $1 million a year in salaries and benefits.

Because the office is independently elected, it’s not on many people’s radar, said Cristella.

“This city has needs, and the lack of transparency breeds corruption, waste, fraud, and abuse of our tax dollars that could be spent repairing schools and hiring more police officers, if that’s what you want, improving our bike lanes,” she said.

Cristella said the city is forced to waste precious resources litigating and settling lawsuits.