{"id":2010750,"date":"2023-08-24T12:33:02","date_gmt":"2023-08-24T16:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/largest-newspaper-publisher-gannett-sued-for-discriminating-against-white-employees\/"},"modified":"2023-08-24T12:36:08","modified_gmt":"2023-08-24T16:36:08","slug":"largest-newspaper-publisher-gannett-sued-for-discriminating-against-white-employees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/largest-newspaper-publisher-gannett-sued-for-discriminating-against-white-employees\/","title":{"rendered":"Gannett, the biggest newspaper publisher, faces discrimination lawsuit from white employees."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Flargest-newspaper-publisher-gannett-sued-for-discriminating-against-white-employees%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2010750&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div>\n<h2>Gannett\u2063 Faces \u200cLawsuit Alleging Discrimination \u2064in Newsrooms<\/h2>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Gannett Co Inc, the largest U.S. newspaper publisher, is facing a lawsuit \u200bclaiming its efforts to\u200d diversify newsrooms led to discrimination against\u2064 white workers.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lawsuit-claims-skittles-are-toxic-and-the-company-hasnt-removed-the-ingredient-despite-a-2016-pledge\/\" title=\"Lawsuit Claims Skittles Are Toxic, And The Company Hasn\u2019t Removed The Ingredient Despite A 2016 Pledge\">proposed class action<\/a> was filed in Virginia \u2064federal court on Friday by five current and former \u200cGannett employees who say they were fired or passed over for promotions\u2062 to make room for less-qualified women and \u2062minorities.<\/p>\n<p>The plaintiffs say those decisions were driven by \u2062a policy announced in 2020 under which \u200bGannett aims to have its newsrooms reflect the \u2063demographics of the \u200ccommunities they cover by 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Gannett has also\u2062 tied executive bonuses and promotions to success meeting the goals\u200b outlined \u200bin the policy, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Gannett \u2064executed their reverse race discrimination policy with a callous indifference towards civil rights \u200claws or the welfare of the workers, and prospective workers, whose lives would be \u2062upended \u2062by it,&#8221; the plaintiffs said in the lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p>Polly Grunfeld\u200d Sack, Virginia-based Gannett&#8217;s chief legal \u2063counsel, said the company \u200balways\u2062 seeks to recruit and \u200bretain the \u2062most qualified workers.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We \u2063will vigorously defend our practice of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/california-reparations-what-newsom-has-said-ahead-of-task-forces-final-proposal\/\" title=\"Newsom's stance on California reparations before task force's final proposal.\">ensuring equal opportunities<\/a> for all our\u200c valued employees \u200bagainst this\u2063 meritless lawsuit,&#8221; Sack said in \u200da statement.<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit \u2062comes amid growing\u2064 backlash \u200cto increasingly prevalent corporate \u2062diversity policies. Unlike other pending cases brought by \u200dconservative groups, the claims\u2064 against Gannett were filed directly by the\u200d company&#8217;s \u2063employees.<\/p>\n<p>The <em>Washington Free Beacon<\/em> reported last month that \u200ddiscriminatory fellowships and \u200dprograms,\u2062 which companies often establish on the basis of elite law \u2062firms&#8217; &#8220;civil rights&#8221; advice, are now prime targets for legal scrutiny since the\u2062 Supreme\u2062 Court struck \u200bdown affirmative\u2064 action in college admissions in June.<\/p>\n<p>These programs &#8220;are lawsuits waiting to happen,&#8221; Noah Peters, the former solicitor \u200dof the Federal Labor Relations \u2062Authority, told the <em>Free Beacon<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Law schools are \u200balso gearing up for a fight \u2062over their policies to boost diversity. Top law school administrators from\u200c the University of California\u2063 Berkeley and the University \u200bof Michigan last month huddled\u200b to discuss how to protect those programs. They \u200dsuggested \u200cschools \u2064take steps to avoid creating a &#8220;record&#8221; of &#8220;discriminatory intent.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Starbucks\u200c Corp, Target Corp, and Progressive Insurance are\u200b among the companies that have faced \u200dshareholder lawsuits\u200d challenging diversity programs. A\u2064 group founded by former Trump administration officials has\u200d filed more than a dozen complaints with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/largest-newspaper-publisher-gannett-sued-for-discriminating-against-white-employees\/\" title=\"Gannett, the biggest newspaper publisher, faces discrimination lawsuit from white employees.\">federal \u2063anti-bias agency\u2063 accusing \u200dlarge companies<\/a>\u200c of\u2063 discriminating against white and male \u200cworkers.<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, a group formed by conservative \u2062activist Edward Blum, who spearheaded the Supreme Court \u2062case, sued two major U.S. \u200dlaw firms over fellowships they offer to racial minorities and LGBT people.<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit against Gannett notes\u2064 that the Supreme Court said \u200bin the\u200c decision that &#8220;eliminating\u200b racial discrimination means eliminating\u200c all of it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In\u2062 the lawsuit, plaintiff Steven Bradley says he was fired \u200cfrom a management job\u200c at the Democrat and Chronicle\u2062 newspaper in Rochester,\u2063 New York, and then passed over for a different position with \u2062Gannett because he is\u200b white.<\/p>\n<p>Bradley in \u200cApril filed a\u2064 similar\u200b lawsuit\u200d against Gannett in New York state court. \u200dThe status of that case \u2062was unclear.<\/p>\n<p>Another plaintiff,\u2063 Logan \u200cBarry, says he was in line for promotion to\u2064 a leadership position at the Progress-Index in\u200d Petersburg, Virginia. \u200dAfter Gannett acquired the newspaper \u200din 2019, the\u2063 job went \u2062to a Black woman \u2062with fewer qualifications, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p>The plaintiffs accused Gannett of \u200bviolating \u2062a\u2063 federal law prohibiting \u200crace discrimination in\u200c contracts. They are seeking to require Gannett to eliminate the 2020 policy, along with lost pay and\u2064 benefits and\u2063 other money damages.<\/p>\n<p>(Reporting by Daniel \u2064Wiessner in Albany, New\u2062 York, Editing by Alexia \u200cGaramfalvi and Daniel \u200bWallis)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gannett Co Inc, the top US newspaper publisher, is sued for alleged discrimination against white workers due to its diversity initiatives. Five current and former employees filed a class action in Virginia federal court, claiming they were fired or overlooked for promotions to accommodate less-qualified individuals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":2010751,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[544],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2010750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-free-beacon"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2010750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2010750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2010750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2010751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2010750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2010750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2010750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}