EEOC Sues New York Times Alleging Racial and Sex Discrimination in Editor Promotion

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit against The New York Times in federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday, alleging that the newspaper violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by denying a promotion to a white male editor based on his race or sex.

According to the EEOC's complaint, the editor applied for the position of deputy real estate editor in January 2025 and was passed over in favor of a multiracial female candidate.

The complaint states that the white male editor had "considerable experience in real estate news," which was listed as a requirement in the job posting. It further alleges that Nikita Stewart, then the real estate editor at the Times and now the metro editor, selected the other candidate despite her lacking experience in editing real estate coverage.

The EEOC's filing seeks a court order requiring the Times to provide equal employment opportunities without regard to race or sex, as well as back pay and punitive damages for the unnamed editor.

In a statement provided to multiple outlets, Times spokeswoman Danielle Rhoades Ha said, "Our employment practices are merit-based and focused on recruiting and promoting the best talent in the world.

" The EEOC complaint alleges that this focus on diversity contributed to the promotion decision. No publicly released evidence from the EEOC has documented the specific qualifications comparison beyond the complaint's assertions, and the selected candidate's name has not been disclosed in the filing.

EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas, appointed during the previous Trump administration, oversees the agency. The complaint does not include statements from anonymous sources speculating on broader political motivations. The Times has not provided additional comments on the lawsuit as of the filing date, according to reports from the involved outlets.

Separately, President Trump filed a $15 billion defamation lawsuit against the Times and publisher Penguin Random House over a book by Times journalists Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner, as reported in source materials.