Planned Parenthood of Illinois has agreed to pay $500,000 to resolve a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigation.
The probe found the abortion organization violated federal law by segregating employees by race, harassing white employees, and providing disparate treatment in employment terms.
The EEOC determined there was reasonable cause to believe Planned Parenthood engaged in unlawful discrimination and harassment against white employees. White workers were required to attend mandatory DEI-related training sessions featuring repeated harassing and derogatory statements, including that they “are White and do not feel racism the same way non-White patients feel,” and that “white supremacy is exerted at every level of oppression (individual, interpersonal, organizational, and societal).”
White employees were subjected to derogatory and race-based harassment during mandatory, segregated DEI trainings on a weekly basis—including messages that they “are white and do not feel racism the same way non-white patients feel” and that “white supremacy is exerted at every level of oppression (individual, interpersonal, organizational, and societal).” In addition, white employees were unlawfully denied paid time off granted to black employees.
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Staff also had to participate in racially segregated “affinity caucuses,” and Black employees received greater access to time off than white workers.
EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas stated, “Segregating employees by race violates the core promise of our nation’s civil rights laws. Title VII guarantees equal treatment for every employee and prohibits race discrimination in America’s workplaces. Those protections equally apply to white workers.”
As part of the settlement, Planned Parenthood of Illinois removed the manager responsible for the misconduct identified in the investigation.
Planned Parenthood of Illinois President and CEO Adrienne White-Faines said the EEOC matter concerned “workplace trainings and practices under prior leadership of the organization.”
“In the time since this complaint was filed, and since I came on board as President and CEO in 2025, I have overseen significant change at the organization, including across the leadership team,” White-Faines said. “PPIL has now come to an agreement with the EEOC about a path forward that will allow us to put this matter behind us and continue providing critical health care services to our valued patients from Illinois and across the country.”
The settlement was announced March 19 following charges filed by multiple employees and resolved through the EEOC’s administrative conciliation process.
