A National Labor Relations Board judge will hear a complaint about the June 2022 firing of former Washington Post reporter Felicia Sonmez, according to a filing on Wednesday (you can read it below). The complaint is based on an unfair labor practice charge the Washington-Baltimore News Guild, the union that represents many Post employees, filed in September 2022. Many unfair labor practice charges are filed before the board every year, but only a few result in complaints like this one being issued. Last year, for example, fewer than four percent of unfair labor practice charges resulted in complaints, while a little more than a quarter of them resulted in settlements.
The Post fired Sonmez after she criticized then-fellow Post reporter Dave Weigel for retweeting a sexist joke. (Weigel apologized for the tweet and was suspended for a month without pay. He now works for Semafor.) The firing ended a sometimes tumultuous tenure at the Post for Sonmez, who started a second stint at the paper in 2018 after a first tour from 2010-2013. She sued the Post in 2021, saying it had discriminated against her when it banned her from reporting on the #MeToo movement after she told higher ups that she had been the victim of sexual assault.
Sonmez was also at the center of a controversy in 2020 after Kobe Bryant died, when she tweeted a link to an article about Bryant settling a sexual-assault lawsuit. She faced intense backlash online and was suspended by then Post Executive Editor Marty Baron, who told her she was “hurting” the publication. Staffers and the Guild protested the suspension, and the paper reinstated her.
In January 2022, Sonmez criticized a tweet by a higher-up. The Weigel incident occurred a few months later, and Sonmez said she highlighted it to show that the Post enforced its social media policies unevenly. In a letter dismissing Sonmez, the paper said it let her go “for misconduct that includes insubordination, maligning your co-workers online and violating The Post’s standards on workplace collegiality and inclusivity” and mentioned what it called her “baseless derision directed to our policies and practices, and our commitment to a safe and supportive work environment.”
A DC Superior Court judge dismissed Sonmez’s 2021 suit in March 2022. It’s currently on appeal.
The NLRB action is separate from that lawsuit. It claims the Post fired Sonmez to dissuade other employees from taking part in activities protected by the National Labor Relations Act. The complaint says the NLRB’s general counsel, which operates independently from the board, will ask for an order for the Post to reinstate Sonmez, who now works as a reporter in North Carolina. If Sonmez chooses not to return, the complaint says the general counsel will ask for the Post to make Sonmez whole financially. A hearing is scheduled for December, but the complaint notes that the board encourages voluntary settlements.
A Post spokesperson declined to comment on pending litigation. In a written statement, Sonmez tells Washingtonian, “The Washington Post was my journalistic home for more than six-and-a-half years. I care deeply about the newspaper and its phenomenal staff, and I hope that I may one day rejoin my incredible teammates there.” The statement continues:
“At the same time, the Post’s leadership must do more to support — not punish — employees who have experienced trauma. It must take action to live up to its own rhetoric on diversity and inclusion. And it must take seriously the concerns that have been raised for decades by employees from marginalized groups — including women, Black journalists, journalists of color, LGBTQ journalists and journalists with disabilities — on issues ranging from pay equity to equal treatment and equal opportunity within the newsroom.Employees who raise concerns about these matters should not have to fear that they will be fired or that their careers will be in peril for doing so.I am grateful to the National Labor Relations Board for filing this complaint to ensure that the Washington Post respects its employees’ federally-protected right to speak out and shine a spotlight on working conditions at the company.”
You can read the NLRB filing here:
Felicia Sonmez NLRB Complaint by Washingtonian Magazine on Scribd
Disclosure: Washingtonian’s editorial staff is also represented by the Washington-Baltimore News Guild.
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
