The Washington Post has been ordered to reinstate opinion columnist Karen Attiah and pay her back wages after an arbitrator ruled that the newspaper did not have sufficient grounds to fire her over social media posts following the 2025 assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The ruling, reported by The New York Times on Monday, found that the newspaper had violated its labour agreement when it terminated Attiah in September.
Private arbitrator Sarah Miller Espinosa concluded that the Post had failed to establish that Attiah engaged in gross misconduct and did not have “good and sufficient cause” to dismiss her, according to a copy of the decision cited by the Times.
The dispute began after Attiah posted comments on Bluesky following Kirk’s assassination. One of the posts referred to previous comments Kirk had made about Black women.
The Washington Post had argued that the posts violated its social media policy, which requires employees to maintain respectful online conduct and avoid activity that could undermine confidence in the newspaper’s journalism.
A Post spokesperson said the newspaper respected the arbitration process but declined to comment further. Attiah and Espinosa did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The ruling comes as the Post faces wider scrutiny over its opinion section and editorial direction under owner Jeff Bezos. Bezos has pushed the opinion operation to focus more heavily on themes including personal liberties and free markets, a shift that has faced criticism from some readers and employees.
The newspaper has also undergone significant cost cutting. In February, the Post announced layoffs affecting hundreds of employees, including journalists on its international, editing, metro and sports desks, as the company faced mounting financial losses.
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