PHILADELPHIA — Delaware County's first diversity, equity, and inclusion officer has been fired after she accused her boss — the top nonelected official in the county — of racial discrimination.

Lauren Footman, 32, filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission last November alleging that Chief Administrative Officer Marc Woolley had treated her and other Black women employees unfairly. She also said he had retaliated against her for filing a similar complaint internally.

Footman filed the complaint while on medical leave due to anxiety and depression that she said her working conditions made worse. When she returned in January, she found out she was being fired.

Delaware County offered her 12 weeks' severance in exchange for pulling her EEOC complaint, according to a copy of a proposed agreement The Inquirer reviewed. Footman said she refused to sign it.

County spokesperson Adrienne Marofsky said she would not comment on a personnel matter but added that Footman's firing was not related to her EEOC complaint.

“We do not tolerate or support hate and are actively working to ensure our DEI office and our next DEI official will have the impact that is needed here in Delaware County,” Marofsky said in a statement.

An internal investigation into Footman's allegations concluded that Woolley, who is Black, “does not discriminate against African-American women during the performance of his job duties,” according to a September 2023 document summarizing the report's findings. The investigation was conducted by two lawyers from the law firm Rudolph Clarke who were hired by the county.

The report noted: “Mr. Woolley's status as an African-American man does not, of course, shield him from a claim of discrimination against African-American women.”

In a statement, Woolley denied Footman's claims and said that the internal investigation cleared him.

Lauren Footman's allegations

The situation in Delaware County is another example of the fraught landscape of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, which proliferated after the 2020 protests against the police killings of Black men and women. Since then, conservatives have banded together to take down such initiatives. In Texas and Florida, lawmakers have banned diversity initiatives at public universities. At the same time, prominent leaders in diversity, equity, and inclusion have been taken down after employees alleged toxic behavior or lackluster leadership.

Footman was hired in April 2022 for what the county described as a historic role as the first executive officer focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Among her responsibilities: making sure the county's workforce and vendors represented the demographics of Delaware County, which is 67% white, 24% Black, and 7% Asian.

In her EEOC complaint, which Footman shared with The Inquirer, she said Woolley treated white workers better than Black workers, specifically Black women.

In one example, Footman said when she and a top county official were experiencing a similar issue, Woolley arranged a County Council meeting to help the official. When Footman asked why, Woolley allegedly said it was because the official was “an attractive white woman.”

In another, Footman said a white county official touched her hair without asking. Upon learning about this, she said, Woolley did not offer his support.

Footman also alleged that Woolley supported using progressive discipline — written warnings and coaching, before termination — with a white employee but not with a Black woman employee.

She said that when she proposed gender-neutral bathrooms in the office, Woolley said that trans people should use any bathroom he tells them to use.

Asked about the “attractive white woman” comment, Woolley told the lawyers conducting the internal investigation that Footman must have been confused with another conversation they had had, according to the internal report. Woolley said he once told Footman, in disbelief, that another top county official had commented on that same female official's attractiveness.

'In Philadelphia ... you get named in lawsuits'

Woolley, 55, has been the subject of controversy in other high-profile local government jobs he's held.

In the early 2000s, he held several positions at the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) under Carl Greene and was named in four lawsuits by previous employees. One suit alleged that Woolley had ordered a housing department lawyer to break federal rules by expediting payments to politically connected law firms, including Ballard Spahr, where Woolley later worked. That suit was settled for an undisclosed amount, as was another. In the other two, judges sided with the PHA.

In 2017, he was announced as the new head of Salt Lake City's Redevelopment Agency only to have the position revoked a few days later after the Salt Lake Tribune reported on the controversies that had marked his career.

“What happens a lot of times in Philadelphia [is] because of your position, you get named in lawsuits,” Woolley told the Salt Lake Tribune at the time, adding that he was cleared of any wrongdoing regarding the suits.

Woolley spent nearly a year as Delaware County's chief administrative officer and returned to his role as deputy executive director in January, when the County Council appointed a new executive director.