A former employee of Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit against the company, accusing it of racism.
Nicole Moore, a Black woman, filed the lawsuit and previously served as Planned Parenthood’s director of multicultural brand engagement until 2021, as NBC News reported.
The outlet noted Moore filed the complaint in Manhattan federal court.
“While Planned Parenthood has publicly boasted its commitment to racial equality, the organization – whose tagline is ‘Care. No matter what’ – has blatantly ignored reports by dozens of its Black employees of systemic unequal hiring and promotion, more work for lower pay, overt hostility, and trafficking in stereotypes by leadership,” the lawsuit states.
It continues, “Instead of addressing the issues, Planned Parenthood has doubled down by punishing
employees of color who dare to speak up, pretextually disciplining them and creating working
conditions so intolerable that they are effectively forced to leave.”
The lawsuit claims Moore “faced well-documented and chronically unremedied patterns of racism: she was overlooked, overworked, over-scrutinized, tokenized, interrupted, dismissed, belittled, and abused by an openly hostile supervisor about whom many had complained about as racist.”
According to the complaint, when Moore “politely spoke up about the inequitable distribution of work, she was falsely accused of being negative, angry, difficult to work with, and chastised for her ‘tone’ – complaints that had no basis in reality but comported with well-trafficked stereotypes about Black women.”
The lawsuit goes on to argue executives of the company “proceeded to thwart Moore’s ideas, sabotage
her projects, and subject her to unfounded disciplinary measures that were clearly intended to silence her complaints.”
The mistreatment allegedly “caused Moore to suffer a panic attack so severe that she spent a day in the hospital. After complaining to HR that the disciplinary measures appeared to be retaliation for her complaints of racial inequality at the organization, she was summarily fired.”
Susan Manning, the interim general counsel for Planned Parenthood, issued a statement to The New York Times in response to the lawsuit.
“We strongly dispute the plaintiff’s allegations and categorically deny her claims of discrimination,” Manning said.
She explained the company’s “top priority for our dedicated staff is building a culture of diversity across the organization to fulfill our mission of reproductive health for all.”
