00:04:07.920The New York Times has a well-documented commitment to enacting race and sex-conscious
00:04:12.760decision-making in the workforce through its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, or DEI,
00:04:17.900policies. The lawsuit, putting it more bluntly, quote,
00:04:21.220a necessary consequence of the NYT's intent to increase the percentage of non-white leaders
00:04:27.020would be a decrease in the percentage of white leaders. The EEOC asking a judge to bar the
00:04:33.860Times from discriminating against employees based on race or sex and to award back pay and other
00:04:39.480damages to the rejected applicant. A spokesperson for the New York Times, Daniel Rhodes Ha,
00:04:45.340releasing a statement, quote, the New York Times categorically rejects the politically motivated
00:04:50.240allegations brought by the Trump administration's EEOC. Our employment practices are merit-based
00:04:56.500and focused on recruiting and promoting the best talent in the world.
00:05:01.340We spoke to employment attorney James Fett, who is not involved with this case,
00:05:05.380but says allegations the Times deviated from its normal hiring process
00:05:09.100could become a significant factor in the lawsuit.
00:05:12.480Well, it's one of the important factors, but based on my review of that release,
00:05:17.780they've got the Times right by the throat.
00:05:20.760The noncompliance with your internal procedures is just one of the many red flags, whether it's a DEI case or a straight-up gender or straight-up race case.
00:05:31.960That's always something that you look for if you are representing the employee.
00:05:37.600Fett agrees with the Times' assertion that the case is politically motivated, but not necessarily in the way the paper frames it.
00:05:44.240Well, it is politically motivated, but only to the extent that the Trump administration on day one said that they were going to vigorously enforce the civil rights law to ensure that the DEI wave was extinguished.
00:06:02.540So, yeah, it's a policy mandate that the EEOC is following, but I'd say it's a good one.
00:06:09.140In terms of it's politically motivated, that is something that is chanted almost every time you have a claim against an employer for violation of the civil rights laws with the DEI program.
00:06:21.840As for Fett's prediction of the outcome.
00:06:25.020It's in the Southern District of New York, which we know is they're going to have a liberal jury, most likely.
00:06:32.960If they get a fair shot, they're going to get a very large judgment.
00:06:37.960And I say that because the cases that have gone to trial have yielded whopping verdicts.
00:06:45.460I myself have gotten whopping verdicts doing these kind of cases.
00:06:50.140So we hope that I don't know who the judge assigned is, but that's another huge issue because judges have been known to put their thumb on the scale based on their philosophical predilections when it comes to handling these cases.
00:07:04.520So I hope they get a I hope they get a fair judge.
00:07:07.960And if they do, they should be looking forward to a healthy judgment.
00:07:13.180Fett says even though many companies have blurred the line
00:07:16.420between diversity goals and illegal discrimination,
00:15:25.140I said before this thing started, the only thing that I had seen that Lutnick did wrong wasn't 100% truthful on the brief visit to the island with his family.
00:15:36.820He corrected that in his opening statement.