by Sharelle B. McNair
March 20, 2026
The EEOC has spearheaded efforts to stand up for discrimination against white employees, using the historic legislation, created to protect Black Americans after witnessing egregious atrocities against them, as a ploy.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) will stop an investigation into Planned Parenthood of Illinois after settling for $500,000 in a lawsuit accusing the Planned Parenthood Federation of America affiliate of discrimination against white employees with DEI efforts, NPR reported.
The federal agency, led by chair Andrea Lucas, claimed Planned Parenthood of Illinois violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 amid claims it “segregated employees by race, subjected white employees to harassment, and engaged in disparate treatment against white employees regarding terms, conditions, and privileges of employment.”
The investigation started after a number of employees said they were required to attend “affinity caucuses” sessions, segregated by race, or DEI-related training sessions that “involved repeated harassing and derogatory statements targeting white employees, including that they ‘are White and do not feel racism the same way non-White patients feel,’” on an alleged weekly basis.
In a statement, Lucas said 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,” she said, according to the Chicago Tribune.
To seemingly put the allegations to rest, the affiliate president and CEO, Adrienne White-Faines, released a statement acknowledging the settlement, noting that the training sessions took place under past leadership.
“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 wrote.
“[Planned Parenthood of Illinois] 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 EEOC has spearheaded efforts to stand up for discrimination against white employees, using the historic legislation created to protect Black Americans after witnessing egregious atrocities against them, as a ploy.
“Those protections equally apply to white workers,” Lucas continued in her statement.
In late 2025, she released a call to action video for more white men to come forward with workplace discrimination claims. The video was supported by Vice President JD Vance, who, before posting, had shared an article titled “The Evil of DEI and Its Consequences.”
But it seems the agency is really pushing for corporations and nonprofits to remember their obligations under the landmark civil rights law and new legislation.
The Trump Administration has made several attempts to pull funding from Planned Parenthood organizations for some care practices after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law in July, included a provision keeping federal Medicaid dollars from being spent on specific reproductive health care providers that perform abortions.
The EEOC event followed their investigation of Nike, one of the biggest supporters of Black athletes. With unidentified claims, the agency launched an investigation into “NIKE’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion-related 2025 Targets and other DEI-related objectives.”
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