New York Times hit with EEOC lawsuit alleging anti-White workplace discrimination
by Valerie Richardson · The Washington TimesThe Trump administration accused The New York Times in a lawsuit filed Tuesday of engaging in race-based workplace discrimination by rejecting a White male editor for promotion in favor of a less-experienced “multiracial female.”
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said the newspaper engaged in discrimination to advance the newspaper’s diversity goals.
The New York Times excluded the White employee from its final panel interviews for a job opening as deputy real estate editor last year despite his 11 years as a staff editor and “extensive experience in real estate journalism,” according to the EEOC lawsuit.
“No one is above the law — including ‘elite’ institutions,” Andrea Lucas, the commission’s chair, said in a statement. “There is no such thing as ‘reverse discrimination’; all race or sex discrimination is equally unlawful, according to long-established civil rights principles.”
None of the four applicants who advanced to the final stage was a White male. The company ultimately chose an outside candidate described as a “non-White female” with “little to no experience in real estate journalism, despite such experience being a requirement for the real estate editor position.”
In addition, “the selected candidate was among the two lowest rated candidates out of the final four candidates,” the agency said.
“One final panel interviewer ranked her tied for lowest of the four candidates, describing her as ‘a bit green overall’ and remarked, ‘I don’t see her contributing to the expansion of the coverage in a significant way,’” said the 17-page complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The lawsuit asked the court for a permanent injunction barring the newspaper from engaging in discrimination based on race and sex, as well as back pay and other compensation for the White male employee, identified as the “Charging Party.”
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“NYT failed to promote Charging Party to the Deputy Real Estate Editor position based on his race and/or sex,” said the complaint.
New York Times spokeswoman Danielle Rhoades Ha said the newspaper “categorically rejects the politically motivated allegations brought by the Trump administration’s EEOC.”
“Our employment practices are merit-based and focused on recruiting and promoting the best talent in the world. We will defend ourselves vigorously,” she said in an email to The Washington Times.
President Trump and his administration have had a mixed record in legal battles with major media organizations.
He personally won settlements from ABC and CBS’s owner, Paramount, over their news coverage, but a judge dismissed his lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal over its reporting on a letter to Jeffrey Epstein that bore Mr. Trump’s name, and he had to refile a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times after a judge said his first complaint read like a political press release instead of a court filing.
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The New York Times also prevailed in a lawsuit challenging the Pentagon’s attempt to block access to journalists who refused to agree to restrictions on their reporting. A judge ordered the paper’s access restored.
The Pentagon then announced a broader restriction on all media entering the building. That policy was rejected by a district court, but an appeals court allowed the escort requirement to remain in place temporarily while the case continues.
Under Mr. Trump’s prodding, Congress cut all taxpayer funding for PBS and NPR.
The New York Times has focused on increasing the percentage of “people of color” in the newsroom, as well as the percentage of “people of color,” women, and “women of color” in leadership roles, under the newspaper’s 2021 Call to Action.
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Under the program, the company increased its representation of Black and Hispanic employees in leadership by 50% in 2022, three years ahead of schedule. Even so, “there was no directive given to employees to cease the affirmative actions outlined in the Call to Action,” the lawsuit said.
The newspaper’s 2024 “Diversity and Inclusion” report showed the number of White staffers dropped from 73% in 2015 to 60% in 2024. The percentage of White employees in leadership fell from 83% to 68%.
“A decrease in the percentage of White male employees (whether new hires, existing employees or those in leadership, as appropriate) was a necessary consequence for the NYT to achieve these results,” the lawsuit said.
During the hiring process for the real estate journalist, the lawsuit said Real Estate Editor Nikita Stewart deviated from the hiring protocol by indicating that the multiracial female candidate was her choice before candidate screenings were completed by Senior Talent Acquisition Manager Soraya Gunnell.
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None of the applicants for the job was identified by name in the lawsuit. The newspaper announced in April 2025 that Monica Burton, a former deputy editor at Eater, had joined the staff as deputy real estate editor.
Ms. Ha, the paper’s spokeswoman, accused the EEOC of deviating from its standard protocol “in highly unusual ways.”
“The allegation centers on a single personnel decision for one of over 100 deputy positions across the newsroom, yet the EEOC’s filing makes sweeping claims that ignore the facts to fit a predetermined narrative,” she said. “Neither race nor gender played a role in this decision — we hired the most qualified candidate, and she is an excellent editor.”
Ms. Ha concluded that the “New York Times’s commitment to diversity in all its forms is longstanding and unwavering, as is our commitment to a fair and legal hiring process that does not discriminate against anyone.”
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Ms. Lucas said the “EEOC is prepared to root out discrimination anywhere it may rear its head,” even when the aggrieved party is White.
“No matter the size or power of the employer, the EEOC under my leadership will not pull punches in ensuring evenhanded, colorblind enforcement of Title VII to protect America’s workers, including White males,” she said.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.
“Federal law is clear: making hiring or promotion decisions motivated in whole or in part by race or sex violates federal law,” Ms. Lucas said. “There is no diversity exception to this rule.”
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.