An independent arbitrator has ordered the Washington Post to reinstate opinion columnist Karen Attiah after she was fired last September. The ruling found that the newspaper violated Attiah's rights as a union-protected employee and ordered the organization to compensate her for lost wages.
Attiah was terminated following social media posts she made on the day conservative activist Charlie Kirk was killed, in which she wrote about white men who espouse hatred and violence. At the time of her dismissal, Attiah was the last Black full-time member of the Post's opinion desk.
The Washington Post's termination letter stated that Attiah's posts had harmed the integrity of the organization. However, the arbitrator determined that the newspaper did not have sufficient cause to terminate her employment and that she had been improperly fired.