The employee, a white male, and an editor at the Times, had applied for a more senior position as a deputy real estate editor. He did not get the job, despite extensive relevant experience, including with real estate news, according to the lawsuit.
This is not dispositive on its own, of course. However, the lawsuit also claims that he did not even make it to the final round of interviews, losing out to “a white female, a black male, an Asian female, and a multiracial female.” The candidate who did receive the position, the “multiracial female,” did not meet the stated qualifications for the position, since she did not have experience in real estate journalism. Nevertheless, the hiring manager sent an email to herself signaling an intent to choose this person before even interviewing her.
These facts become more concerning in light of the Times‘ stated desire to increase the number of minority and female employees in leadership positions. The lawsuit cites various diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) plans, as well as the Times‘ 2021 proposal, “A Call to Action,” which lamented that “people of color—and particularly women of color—remain notably underrepresented in its leadership.” The proposal explicitly endorsed the idea of gradually replacing existing leadership with women of color, to the specific exclusion of “white and unspecified” ethnicities. Leaders at the Times would be judged “by how well they ‘create pathways’ for a ‘diverse’ group of deputies to succeed them,” according to the proposal.