Morgan Jin Collection on the New York Times Minorities Class Action Suit

David Jin is the son of the late Morgan Jin (1925-1997), a Chinese American labor advocate and an employee of the New York Times who worked in sales from 1967 to 1996. Morgan Jin began at the Times as a supervisor in the College and School Service Department. Jin alleged that he had been unfairly denied promotion until his position was eventually eliminated in 1972. Jin's charges of racial discrimination were brought to the New York State Human Rights Commission, which decided that racial discrimination was not the cause of Jin's position being eliminated. Jin went on to develop a minority caucus at the Times. With three other named plaintiffs, and the support of their union, the Newspaper Guild of New York, a federal class action suit was brought against the Times in 1974. The suit was settled out of court in 1980 for $1.5 million dollars; among other provisions, it included $400,000 paid out to the class of over 300 employees and applicants, and the development of an affirmative action plan for the Times. Jin continued to work at the Times until his retirement in 1996.

Sources: "Morgan Jin Discusses Historic NY Times Affirmative Action Suit." East/West: The Chinese American Journal, vol. 15, no. 21, 27 May 1981.