The Trump administration is suing the New York Times over its employment practices, opening a new front in the White House’s fight against media organizations and diversity initiatives.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit filed Tuesday in the Southern District of New York alleges the Times passed over a qualified white male employee who had applied to work as the publication’s deputy real estate editor, because he would not help the company meet its goal of boosting the newsroom’s ranks of underrepresented groups.
“A necessary consequence of NYT’s intent to increase the percentage of non-White leaders would be a decrease in the percentage of White leaders,” the government’s lawsuit alleged.
The lawsuit does not name the journalist who was the alleged target of discrimination. But it describes him as someone who had been an editor at the news organization since 2014, was working as a senior staff international desk editor when he applied for the real estate position, and was more qualified than the outside applicant who ultimately got the job.
None of the four finalists for the role were white men, according to the EEOC.
“There is no such thing as ‘reverse discrimination’; all race or sex discrimination is equally unlawful, according to long-established civil rights principles,” EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas said in a statement.
The lawsuit does not cite any overt acts of discrimination but asserts that those involved with the hiring decision were “influenced by NYT’s stated race and sex-based hiring and promotion goals” during the process.
Danielle Rhoades Ha, a spokesperson for the New York Times, said its employment practices are “merit-based and focused on recruiting and promoting the best talent in the world.”
“Throughout this process, the EEOC deviated from standard practices in highly unusual ways,” Rhoades Ha said in a statement.
“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.”
Kalpana Kotagal, the commission’s sole Democratic appointee, blasted the Republican majority’s decision to file the lawsuit as politically motivated.
“I fear this litigation is driven not by the merits, but by a desire to advance the administration’s political agenda, which weakens civil rights protections for workers and undermines employer efforts to advance equal employment opportunity,” Kotagal wrote in a statement posted on social media.
Kotagal noted the paper had recently written critically about the EEOC’s shift in focus under Lucas, including to give heightened consideration to claims filed by white men. Lucas has said she intends to enforce anti-discrimination laws evenly and that certain workers have been discounted while favoring others under prior agency leadership.
The EEOC is asking a judge to block the Times from “discriminating against employees because of race or sex,” and asking the court to award back pay and other relief to the spurned applicant.
The EEOC has historically operated at arms length from the White House, but Lucas is among those who have fallen in line as President Donald Trump dismantled the traditional firewall between independent federal agencies and the rest of the executive branch.
During her Senate confirmation last year, Lucas disavowed her prior statements that the EEOC should act independently, saying her previous legal interpretation was “wrong.”
Trump has for years criticized the Times’ reporting on him and his administration and he sued the outlet in his personal capacity last year. The suit was quickly thrown out, but the federal judge allowed Trump to refile.
