New York Times executive ‘faces backlash for LGBT+ Slack group post’

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A human resources executive at The New York Times is facing backlash after allegedly asking employees on a LGBT+ Slack channel to not raise their workplace concerns there, a report claims.

On Monday, The Daily Beast reported in its weekly media newsletter Confider that Natalia Villalobos, NYT’s vice president of inclusion, strategy, and execution, made the comments in an April 3 post to TimesOut, the paper’s LGBTQ-focused employee resources group.

“I just wanted to share a note about discussing or reporting about your workplace experience to ensure everyone knows about our resources,” Ms Villalobos reportedly wrote.

She then proceeded to direct employees to several other human resources (HR) approved methods of airing their grievances.

This included on the “ask-the-company” Slack channel, a one-on-one with a manager, or going directly to HR representatives.

“Going forward, I want to encourage folxs here to raise concerns or issues via the places above ^^^^ rather than in this ERG channel,” she wrote.

The HR’s suggestion riled employees, many of whom replied to Ms Villalobos and asked her what prompted her post’s timing and how her suggestions could make LGBT+ staffers feel unsafe at the paper.

“I can’t help but feel lately like I’m expected to just shut up and deal with the negativity because it might make some of my coworkers feel uncomfortable if I speak up,” one Times staffer wrote in the messages reviewed by The Daily Beast.

“It feels completely surreal and disrespectful to get corporate swag branded with a pride flag at the same time as we’re being instructed not to publicly discuss our experiences as queer people in the workplace,” wrote another staffer.

The report said that Ms Villalobos addressed the employees concerns a day later.

“My post was meant to support the community by offering channels for reporting workplace concerns like discrimination and harassment so that they are received by HR and other partners who can help address them efficiently,” she wrote.

“It was not meant to reduce sharing, eliminate community support, or tamp down community building.”

The report said that she also proposed to host office hours upon her return from personal leave but did not share what prompted her to write the message in the first place.

The Independent has reached out to NYT for a comment.

In February, an editorial in the publication that defended the views of the author JK Rowling reignited a war of words between the newspaper and its staff over the coverage of transgender issues.

Subsequently staff and contributors penned a letter criticising the publication’s coverage of transgender, non⁠-⁠binary and gender nonconforming people.

Separately more than 100 organisations issued a statement accusing the publication of “spreading inaccurate and harmful misinformation about transgender people and issues”.

The publication later defended itself and said that it was “proud” of its coverage.