MANHATTAN (LN) — The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued The New York Times Company on Tuesday, alleging the publisher violated Title VII by passing over a white male editor for a promotion because of his race and sex.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, claims the company’s diversity, equity, and inclusion policies drove it to exclude a longtime editor from final interviews for a Deputy Real Estate Editor position in early 2025.

According to the complaint, the plaintiff was a white man with extensive experience in real estate journalism. The EEOC alleges the company left him out of the final interview panel while every candidate who advanced was not a white male.

The company ultimately hired an outside candidate for the role, a non-white female with little to no experience in real estate journalism, despite such experience being a requirement for the position, the suit states.

The EEOC alleges the hiring manager bypassed standard interview processes for the external candidate and selected her despite the final interview panel rating her less favorably than two other finalists.

The lawsuit cites the company’s 2021 “Call to Action” and other publications outlining goals to increase non-white and female representation in leadership positions as evidence of race- and sex-conscious decision-making.

EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas stated that no one is above the law, including elite institutions, and that all race or sex discrimination is equally unlawful. She emphasized the agency’s commitment to evenhanded, colorblind enforcement of Title VII to protect all workers, including white males, and noted there is no diversity exception to federal law.

Acting EEOC General Counsel Catherine L. Eschbach warned that employers engaging in discrimination of DEI face significant litigation risk. She stated that Title VII safeguards every worker’s right to compete for promotions based on individual merit, free from unlawful consideration of race or sex.

The EEOC filed the suit after attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process.