Karen Attiah, a Washington Post opinion writer fired this month for her social media posts about the assassination of Charlie Kirk, has filed a grievance arguing that she should have been allowed to share her views on news events under the company’s labor agreement and social media policy.
In addition to grievance, filed by The Post’s labor union last week, Ms. Attiah, 39, submitted a four-page letter to The Post’s head of human resources on Wednesday seeking to recover damages from her firing.
In the letter, her lawyers said she “spoke truthfully and forcefully about matters of vital public concern.”
The Washington Post did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to The Post’s termination notice, attached to Ms. Attiah’s letter, the newspaper fired Ms. Attiah for posts on the social media app Bluesky that violated the company’s social media policies, saying they “harm the integrity” of the organization. The organization’s policies and standards say that Post employees are expected to use social media responsibly and civilly, and to treat people with respect.
Ms. Attiah posted her views on political violence, racial standards in America and the widespread availability of guns shortly after Mr. Kirk’s death. In one post, she argued that “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.”
Ms. Attiah’s letter said the posts were “well-supported opinions” within her purview as an opinion writer.
She was criticized online for misquoting Mr. Kirk’s remarks about the “brain processing power” of several prominent Black women, including Michelle Obama and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. Her post incorrectly said that Mr. Kirk had referred to all Black women.
She corrected herself days later, after she was fired, in a reply to her original post. That Bluesky post wasn’t included in The Post’s termination letter.
Benjamin Mullin reports for The Times on the major companies behind news and entertainment. Contact him securely on Signal at +1 530-961-3223 or at [email protected].
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