this The New York Times accused the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in a court filing Friday of unlawful retaliation over the paper’s coverage of President Donald Trump’s administration, suing the paper for passing up a white man for a top editorial position.
Counterclaim filed in Manhattan federal court seeks dismissal of EEOC lawsuit Submitted in Maya statement of agency action Violates the newspaper’s rights to free speech and due process under the U.S. Constitutionand other remedies.
The New York Times denied the agency’s claims and said its ideal diversity goals played no role in the company’s decision to promote a multiracial woman to the deputy editor position instead of a white man.
“The committee’s malicious use of its authority to target The New York Times in a vindictive and malicious manner … poses a unique and insidious threat to a free and independent press and to our democracy,” lawyers for the Times wrote in the filing.
A spokesman for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said the agency does not comment on pending litigation.
The lawsuit is one of the commission’s most high-profile moves to date in its fight against workplace diversity, equity and inclusion policies. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission also Investigating Nike’s Diversity Efforts and Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, and sued a Coca-Cola bottler for excluding men from social events.
Trump, a Republican, issued executive orders shortly after beginning his second term last year aimed at ending DEI in government, education and the private sector.
Trump too Sue The Times The company is accused in a $15 billion defamation lawsuit of trying to undermine his 2024 campaign and disparage his reputation as a businessman.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued the newspaper on behalf of Bryant Rousseau. Bryant Rousseau, an 11-year veteran of The New York Times, is seeking a promotion to deputy real estate editor in early 2025 after serving primarily as senior editor in the international department.
The New York Times spent years trying to hire more black, Hispanic and female staff to create a diverse newsroom, and in 2024 decided it needed more nonwhite leaders, according to the lawsuit.
The EEOC said that while Rousseau was eligible for promotion, she never made it to the final hiring phase, where a less qualified multiracial woman was selected over a white woman, a black man and an Asian woman.
The Times denied wrongdoing in Friday’s filing and said the chosen candidate was more experienced and better qualified for the job than Rousseau.
The Times accused the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission of filing a lawsuit over the critical coverage, noting that Trump has called the paper “the real enemy of the people.”
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