Five current and former employees of Gannett have filed a lawsuit charging diversity policies at the biggest newspaper publisher in the U.S. of violating a federal law and discriminating against white workers, the New York Post reports.
The proposed class action, filed in Virginia federal court Friday, says the employees were fired, not promoted or given raises, to accommodate less-qualified women and minorities.
The lawsuit cites a Gannett diversity policy enacted in 2020 with the goal of making its newsrooms as diversified as the communities it covers by 2025.
The plaintiffs say Gannett violated a federal law prohibiting racial discrimination in contracts. Their lawsuit seeks lost pay, benefits and other monetary remuneration, along with the elimination of the 2020 policy.
“Gannett executed their reverse race discrimination policy with a callous indifference towards civil rights laws or the welfare of the workers, and prospective workers, whose lives would be upended by it,” the lawsuit charges.
Polly Grunfeld Sach, Gannett’s chief legal counsel, said in a statement, “We will vigorously defend our practice of ensuring equal opportunities for all our valued employees against this meritless lawsuit.”
Grunfeld Sach added that Gannett always seeks to hire and retain the most qualified employees.
This is the first DEI-related lawsuit to be brought directly against a company by employees. Earlier cases have been backed by conservative groups representing shareholders, including one founded by former Trump administration officials.
Experts have said that following the U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision striking down affirmative action in college admissions, corporations can expect their diversity, equity and inclusion measures to come under legal scrutiny.
In fact, the Gannett lawsuit refers to the Supreme Court case, Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, saying the high court’s decision intended that “eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.”
Plaintiff Steven Bradley says he was fired from a management job at the Democrat and Chronicle newspaper in Rochester, N.Y., and later did not get another job with Gannett because he is white.
Plaintiff Logan Barry says before Gannett acquired the Progress-Index paper in Peterburg, Va., in 2019, he was on track for a promotion to an executive leadership position, but that the job ultimately went to a less-qualified Black woman.
Shareholders have sued Starbucks, Target and Progressive Insurance over their DEI programs.
Lee Barney ✉
Lee Barney, Newsmax’s financial editor, has been a financial journalist for 30 years, covering the economy, retirement planning, investing and financial technology.
© 2025 Newsmax Finance. All rights reserved.