Dive Brief:
- Following a lawsuit from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charging The New York Times with discrimination for not promoting a White male journalist, the news organization filed a counterclaim on July 10, alleging EEOC was engaging in retaliation against the Times for its reporting.
- The Times asked the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to dismiss EEOC’s complaint, declare its lawsuit a violation of the First and Fifth Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act and enjoin EEOC from continuing to sue the Times, in addition to other proposed corrective actions.
- EEOC’s lawsuit against the Times is among the highest-profile of its initial targeting of companies for alleged diversity, equity and inclusion-related discrimination against majority-group plaintiffs. Nike is another major brand EEOC has been investigating for alleged DEI-related discrimination.
Dive Insight:
“This lawsuit is extraordinary in every sense,” the Times alleged in its counterclaim. “Everything about the Commission’s handling of this matter — from its investigation to the abrupt abandonment of its statutory obligation to engage in conciliation — has been marked by irregularities that evidence a Commission singularly focused on bringing this case against The Times irrespective of whether its claims have merit.”
EEOC’s lawsuit, filed in May, alleged the Times excluded a longtime editor with real estate journalism experience from final-round interviews for an open real estate deputy editor position in early 2025. No White male candidate advanced to the final interview stage, EEOC said, and the position was offered to a non-White woman with allegedly little real estate journalism experience.
In its counterclaim, the Times argued the chosen candidate was the most qualified for the job due to her extensive experience with service journalism and a variety of story formats, “both of which were emphasized in the job posting.” She also provided “a compelling vision” of the future of coverage in the department that aligned with the real estate desk’s goals, the Times said.
The Times said EEOC had spent eight months investigating the worker’s claims, collected more than 1,000 pages in documents and interviewed at least nine witnesses but still could not point to any evidence of discrimination in its complaint. The agency also omitted evidence counter to its claims, per the Times, including that the plaintiff was allegedly offered two other opportunities that aligned with his stated goals but which he turned down.
Moreover, the Times said, the “Call to Action” DEI goals EEOC identified as motivation for the hire would not have been affected by it.
“The Real Estate Deputy Editor position at The Times is not even a ‘leadership’ position as discussed in that report, and the hiring decision for this role would have had no impact on whether the aspirational leadership goal was met no matter who was selected,” the Times said.
The Times alleged the Trump administration targeted it for investigation due to its coverage of issues such as conflict of interest concerns related to members of the administration, Trump’s connections to Jeffrey Epstein, the War in Iran and more.
The media organization specifically highlighted a slew of disparaging comments President Trump and other administration officials have made about the Times, lawsuits they have filed against it and an April 27 article in which the Times spoke to field staff at the agency about being pressured to pursue politically charged cases with little evidence. EEOC filed its lawsuit less than two weeks after the article’s publication.
Commissioner Kalpana Kotagal, who voted against filing the lawsuit, said in a post on LinkedIn that she feared the action was driven not by the merits, “but by a desire to advance the administration’s political agenda.”
In an email to HR Dive, an EEOC spokesperson said the agency does not comment on ongoing litigation.
