Arbitrator orders Washington Post to reinstate Karen Attiah

An independent arbitrator has ordered The Washington Post to reinstate opinion writer Karen Attiah, finding the newspaper lacked sufficient cause when it fired her over social media posts about Charlie Kirk after the conservative activist was killed last year.

The ruling, issued Thursday, directed the Post to return Attiah to her job and award her full back pay and lost benefits. Arbitrator Sarah Miller Espinosa found that the newspaper failed to establish that Attiah had engaged in “gross misconduct” and violated its collective bargaining agreement with the Washington-Baltimore News Guild.

Attiah, a high-profile opinion journalist who had worked at the Post for more than a decade, was at the time the last Black full-time member of the paper’s opinion desk and its only Black female opinion writer. She was also the founding global opinion editor for the Post.

“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 reported by The Guardian. “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.”

On Instagram, Attiah wrote: “After wrongfully firing me last year, an independent arbitrator has ordered [The Washington Post] to reinstate me immediately, with back pay. It’s been a year-long fight, but this is a victory for journalists everywhere. More to come soon.”

Kirk, 31, was shot and killed Sept. 10 during a public appearance at Utah Valley University. Tyler Robinson, 23, has been charged with crimes including aggravated murder and has not yet entered a plea. He turned himself in a day after the shooting.

Kirk founded Turning Point USA in 2012 and became a prominent podcaster and ally of President Trump. He was known for provocative statements about race, gender and politics, criticized the Black Lives Matter movement on college campuses and called George Floyd, the Black man whose 2020 murder by Minneapolis police sparked nationwide protests, a “scumbag.”

After Kirk’s killing, Attiah posted on Bluesky: “Refusing to tear my clothes and smear ashes on my face in performative mourning for a white man that espoused violence is … not the same as violence.” Another post said: “If anything, the rush to coddle violent white men is self-protective – that we know they are not used to feeling vulnerable and mortal – and will react violently out of fear. And we will all suffer.” The Guardian reported another post said: “Part of what keeps America so violent is the insistence that people perform care, empty goodness and absolution for white men who espouse hatred and violence.”

The Post emailed Attiah a termination letter on Sept. 11, accusing her of “gross misconduct.” The letter said her public comments “violate the Post’s social media policies, harm the integrity of our organization, and potentially endanger the physical safety of our staff.”

According to The Guardian, Post opinion editor Adam O’Neal had emailed the company’s head of human relations that Attiah’s posts were “beyond the pale- completely unacceptable for someone associated with Opinions.” O’Neal testified that the posts created security risks for the Post and its journalists during an “intense moment of violence in America.”

Espinosa rejected that rationale. “To imply that the Grievant’s posts were justifiable provocation for threatened criminal acts or that the Grievant’s employment may be terminated for just cause because bad actors threatened The Post is unsupportable,” she wrote, according to The Guardian. She called the firing “absolutely disproportional” and said the Post’s decision, made about four hours after O’Neal became aware of the posts, was “not supported by good and sufficient cause.”

A Post spokesperson said the company respects the arbitration process but declined further comment. The Guardian reported it is unclear whether the company plans to appeal.

The Democracy Defenders Fund, which represented Attiah along with the Washington-Baltimore News Guild, called the ruling a landmark moment for press freedom. Norm Eisen, co-founder of Democracy Defenders Action, called it a “thunderous win” for Attiah and “a landmark decision for every journalist who refuses to be silenced.”

Attiah’s firing was among several dismissals and workplace sanctions tied to public comments about Kirk’s killing, including actions involving employees at PHNX Sports, MSNBC, Middle Tennessee State University, Nasdaq and the U.S. Secret Service.