Black Employees Advance Class Race Bias Suit Against Peoples Gas

Chicago-area utility Peoples Gas Light & Coke Co. mostly failed to narrow a proposed class lawsuit by Black employees alleging intentional race discrimination, harassment, and inadvertent bias.

The November 2023 suit alleges the WEC Energy Group subsidiary segregates its workforce based on race, including by assigning Black employees to more dangerous neighborhoods, causing them to be victims of criminal assault at a much higher rate than White workers, the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois said. Peoples missed the mark in seeking dismissal of the proposed class’s disparate treatment discrimination claims under federal and Illinois law because ...