The EEOC cites the Times’ 2021 ‘Call to Action’ in which the paper committed to hiring more females and racial minorities.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued the New York Times for allegedly passing over a white male employee for a promotion and instead hiring a non-white female candidate who lacked the male employee’s qualifications and experience.
The federal watchdog alleges the male candidate was not promoted because of his race and/or sex, noting the New York Times‘ “well-documented commitment” to various diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, including a 2021 “Call to Action” in which the Times announced its commitment to increasing the number of female and racial minority candidates in leadership.
“No one is above the law — including ‘elite’ institutions. 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 press release. “Federal law is clear: making hiring or promotion decisions motivated in whole or in part by race or sex violates federal law. There is no diversity exception to this rule.”
In early 2025, Times decision makers did not invite the male employee to a final interview for the Deputy Real Estate Editor position despite his ample experience in real estate reporting, according to the suit.
Not only did the Times not invite said candidate to the final interview, according to the EEOC, but the woman who ultimately was offered the role lacked experience, came from outside the organization, and was sent immediately to the final panel interview without completing any prior interviews.
Further, the EEOC said the panel interviewers rated the candidate who was offered the position substantially lower than two other final candidates — none of the final candidates were white males. The candidates who advanced to the panel interview included “a white woman, a Black man, an Asian female and a multiracial female,” according to the complaint.
The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, claims the publication “stated race and sex-based representation goals influenced the decision not to advance.”
“The New York Times categorically rejects the politically motivated allegations brought by the Trump administration’s E.E.O.C.,” Danielle Rhoades Ha, a spokeswoman for The Times, said in a statement. “Our employment practices are merit-based and focused on recruiting and promoting the best talent in the world. We will defend ourselves vigorously.”
The employee included in the suit, who is not named, has worked for the Times since 2014.
“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 N.Y.T. to achieve these [DEI] results,” according to the complaint.
Lucas, who has been involved with the EEOC since President Donald Trump’s first term, was promoted to chair of the federal watchdog group in his second administration. Her goal as chair is to dial back corporate DEI policies.
As chair, Lucas’s EEOC has gone after a Coca-Cola distributor for hosting a two-day networking event, specifically for women. The group is also investigation Nike, after allegations the company discriminated against white workers in an attempt to exemplify its DEI efforts.
“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,” Lucas said in a statement.
The Times’ editorial product has for years endorsed a left-wing identitarian approach to race and gender. Use of the words “racist” and “racism” increased by 700 percent in the Times from 2011 to 2019, according to an analysis by Tablet. In 2018, the Times editorial board hired the writer Sarah Jeong despite her lengthy history of denigrating white people on social media. The Times’ focus on race only increased during the moral panic around race and identity that gripped the country in 2020, with the New York Times Magazine publishing the 1619 Project, which sought to reframe America’s founding around the arrival of slaves in the new world.