Darlene Hemerka
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Adjunct Professor of Law Hearing Examiner Email: djh356@psu.edu |
About Hemerka
As a hearing examiner for the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission (PHRC), Darlene Hemerka oversees cases on the Commission’s public hearing docket. Hemerka conducts pre-hearing conferences, presides over public hearings and drafts recommendations about how the PHRC should decide cases.
Prior to joining the PHRC, Hemerka was a staff attorney at the Legal Clinic for the Disabled. Her responsibilities included overseeing the intake line, educating families and practitioners on alternatives to guardianship for adults with disabilities, and representing tenants in municipal court and in front of the Philadelphia Fair Housing Commission.
Hemerka also worked at the Public Interest Law Center (Law Center). She started as an Equal Justice Works Fellow. As a fellow, she designed a project to ensure that students with disabilities ages 14-21 received appropriate “transition services;” activities designed to prepare the student for employment and further education. After completing her fellowship, Hemerka became a staff attorney at the Law Center and worked on education cases.