New York Times sued by EEOC over alleged promotion bias against white man

The New York Times sued the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Thursday in Manhattan federal court. The paper asked a Manhattan federal judge to dismiss the case and declare that the EEOC violated the First and Fifth Amendments.

The EEOC filed its lawsuit on May 5 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York under the case caption EEOC v. The New York Times Company, Case No. 1:26-cv-03704. The agency alleges the newspaper broke federal law when it passed over a white male employee for deputy real estate editor because of his race and or sex, after an attempted pre-litigation conciliation process failed.

At the center of the dispute is a 2025 hiring process for the deputy real estate editor opening. The employee was an 11-year Times veteran who had worked primarily as a senior staff editor on the international desk. The EEOC alleges the newspaper’s own panel interviews rated the eventual hire less favorably than two other finalists, and cites the Times’ 2021 Call to Action and other diversity, equity and inclusion-related publications as evidence that race- and sex-conscious goals shaped leadership decisions.

The commission has treated the case as routine enforcement under Title VII, the federal law that bars discrimination based on race or sex, with no separate legal category of reverse discrimination. The Times denied wrongdoing and will defend itself vigorously. In its countersuit, the newspaper argued that the EEOC’s lawsuit is unconstitutional and that the agency used its civil-rights authority to punish a news organization.

The Times also argued the EEOC left out details learned during its investigation, including that the employee was offered two other positions in 2024 that matched his career goals.