(ProsperNews.net) – White employees have filed a lawsuit against newspaper giant Gannett for discriminating against them in the latest example of backlash against racially charged “woke” company policies. The five former and current staff members allege they have either been passed over for promotion or fired in favor of less qualified colleagues.
“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 states. The suit cites the recent Supreme Court ruling that higher education institutions could no longer consider race as part of their admissions process, a move strongly condemned by the Biden administration.
One plaintiff is a former Democrat from Rochester who said the company, which owns several major news outlets including USA Today, fired him last year and did not consider him for alternative posts because he is white.
The case brings the Supreme Court ruling to the fore and will test its application and the extent of its remit. In June, the Justices called a halt to race-based college admissions, ending so-called “affirmative action.” In her dissent from the decision, Justice Sonia Sotomayor called the concept of color-blindness “superficial” and stated that the United States is a nation where “race has always mattered and continues to matter.”
In the wake of the controversial ruling, thirteen Republicans wrote to Fortune 100 companies urging them to end all race-based hiring policies, but whether the Supreme Court decision will apply to such policies has yet to be tested. In the letter, the chief lawyers of each state say the Supreme Court has placed companies “on notice of the illegality of racial quotas and race-based preferences.”
The lawsuit against Gannett comes a week after a similar suit against Progressive Insurance by a customer who was denied an opportunity to apply for a grant because it was only available to black clients. His lawyers also cited the Supreme Court ruling.
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