Naperville Church Fired Employee In Retaliation For Gender Discrimination Complaint, Judge Finds

NAPERVILLE — An Illinois Human Rights Commission judge has recommended that Naperville Presbyterian Church and its senior pastor Dane Ortlund pay more than $93,000 in wages and damages for emotional distress to a former employee named Emily Hyland.

Hyland had filed the initial lawsuit in May 2021, alleging gender and sex discrimination and asserting her March 19, 2021, firing was retaliation after she raised a complaint about unfair treatment with church elders nine days earlier.

The church contended Hyland's termination was due to issues with performance that included poor communication and insubordination.

On May 1, 2026, the Deputy Chief Administrative Law Judge Azeema Akram found in favor of Hyland's claims that the church subjected her to retaliation after she accused them of discriminating against her based on her gender.

Yet Akram found that Hyland "failed to prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that Respondent subjected her to disparate pay or sex discrimination," according to the determination document.

According to the determination, Hyland had been put on notice for "alleged performance deficiencies." The complaint states that Hyland alleged her superiors "refused to coach her, which it had done for similarly-situated male employees."

Court documents state that Hyland told the elders about these cases involving male employees and said she "could never imagine Pastor Ortlund treating a man in her role with the same level of disdain and contempt."

Hyland had alleged that she was told to"take the [termination] agreement home and have her husband read over it."

Per the Illinois Human Rights Commission's determination,

"It seems likely that Complainant may have eventually been terminated for performance issues if Pastor Ortlund had not unlawfully discharged her. It also seems likely that Complainant would have been open to approaching her concerns about the Pastors’ treatment of her in a different way after talking to Mr. McCauley and Mr. Kuehne. Ultimately, though, I believe that Complainant and Respondent would have parted ways because they were each were steadfast in their respective, but incompatible, work and communication styles"

To calculate the estimated backpay owed to Hyland, Akram found that Hyland would have "separated" from the church a year after her alleged performance issues were first addressed.

Naperville Presbyterian Church issued a statement on May 6, 2026, in response to the determination. The statement reads, in part,

"This statement is offered to clear up a number of inaccuracies abroad in the matter of Hyland v.
Naperville Presbyterian Church currently before the Illinois Human Rights Commission (IHRC).

Dane Ortlund became senior pastor at Naperville Presbyterian Church in October 2020 and initiated a routine assessment of the church staff. As part of that assessment, he raised concerns about performance issues with Emily Hyland, the church's part-time director of operations.
Pastor Ortlund presented these performance concerns to Ms. Hyland in January 2021 and asked her to revisit the conversation in March.

In early March, Ms. Hyland complained to two elders, though she made no mention of sex-based discrimination-a complaint she would later make to the Chicago Metro Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in America and to state agencies.

Seeing no improvement in her performance-or even an indication of willingness to acknowledge any performance issues-Ms. Hyland was terminated March 19, 2021."