Arbitrator determined the Post improperly fired Karen Attiah, a union-protected employee, over social media posts
An independent arbitrator has ordered the Washington Post to rehire the high-profile opinion columnist Karen Attiah, abruptly fired by the news organization last September over comments she made on social media about Charlie Kirk, the then recently slain conservative activist.
On Monday, an arbitrator ruled that the Post had violated her rights as a union-protected employee and ordered the newspaper to reinstate her and compensate her for lost wages.
“This decision confirms what we’ve said from the start: I was doing my job as an opinion journalist, and doing that job is not misconduct,” Attiah said in a statement. “After spending over a decade of my career at the Post as an editor and an opinion columnist focusing on race, gender and global human rights, I’m relieved to finally have that record set straight … I hope that this win sends a message to journalists and media institutions everywhere that freedom of expression is always worth fighting for.”
Well good for her! All she did was point out that Charlie Kirk said hateful things and she wasn’t sad he was gone, which is about as tame as an opinion piece gets. That firing had ‘butthurt white people’ all over it.
I’m glad he’s dead, and the world is a brighter place for his lack. I only wish he’d been conscious a while to feel the doom weighing upon him.
That’s the level of vitriol I would love to have read. Right-wingers got off easy.
If you manage to see an uncensored video of the event you’ll see that your wish was already granted
I’ve seen it. My understanding is that due to catastrophic loss of blood pressure, he was instantly unconscious. But maybe that’s just a nice lie.
Yeah, idk if I buy that. I don’t think, in even the most catastrophic situation (like, uh, being quickly decapitated), that consciousness and awareness in the brain instantly stops. There’s got to be some not-that-small fraction of a second where the consciousness understands something is catastrophically wrong.
In carotid artery Charlie’s case, I hope it was as long as physiologically possible 🥰
Would she want to actually return, though?
It’s the principal of the things.
They get ordered to give you your job back, then you quit on toxic work environment and harassment grounds.
She posted somewhere saying she’s returning. It is also with backpay which is cool
It’s retroactive. Whether not she wants to, she was supposed to have the option.
Imagine being the union rep making the phonecall…
“Good news/Bad news…we got your job at The Washington Post back…”
I’m gonna be real here, journalists shouldn’t be fired over opinion pieces, but also fuck opinion pieces. They had their purpose back in the day, but opinion just means clickbait anymore.
I’m surprised there’s a union with any power left at the Washington Post.
