The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a lawsuit against the New York Times, alleging the newspaper discriminated against a white male employee by denying him a promotion based on his race and sex. The case, brought under the Trump administration, has ignited debate over the reach of civil rights protections and the role of diversity initiatives in hiring.
According to the EEOC complaint, the employee—an editor at the Times—applied for a deputy real estate editor position but was passed over despite having “considerable experience with real estate news, multiple news platforms, and innovative content.” The lawsuit claims the hiring manager only considered candidates from diverse backgrounds, ultimately selecting a multiracial female applicant who lacked real estate journalism experience. The manager allegedly sent an email signaling her intent to hire that candidate before even conducting the interview.
The Times has denied the allegations, calling them “politically motivated.” In a statement, spokesperson Danielle Rhoades Ha said, “The New York Times 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.”
The lawsuit references the Times’s internal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) plans, including a 2021 proposal titled “A Call to Action,” which lamented the underrepresentation of people of color—especially women of color—in leadership. The proposal explicitly endorsed replacing existing leaders with women of color, to the exclusion of “white and unspecified” ethnicities, and said managers would be judged on their success at creating pathways for diverse successors.
Critics of the Trump administration see the suit as a political attack on a media outlet the president has long targeted. But the EEOC’s evidence, if the races were reversed, would likely be seen as a strong case for discrimination. The lawsuit notes that the final candidate pool included a white female, a black male, an Asian female, and a multiracial female—but not the white male applicant.
New York Magazine reported that the employee’s identity has been revealed, and some have pointed to the Times’s executive editor, Joe Kahn, who is a white male, as proof the paper isn’t biased against white men. Legal experts dismiss this as a non sequitur: the case is about a specific hiring decision, not overall demographics.
Federal civil rights law prohibits discrimination based on race and sex, protections that apply to all groups, including white males. As long as such laws remain on the books, they must be enforced equally—even if that’s not the typical focus of civil rights attorneys.
The case echoes broader tensions over DEI policies in the workplace, which have become a flashpoint in the culture wars. For more on related political dynamics, see our coverage of South Carolina GOP’s redistricting push and the civil liberties costs of Trump’s ICE funding surge.
