Former ACLU employee sues organization for violating core values of 'diversity' it espouses, lawsuit alleges

Monica Espitia, ACLU veteran, alleges discrimination and retaliation in a lawsuit against ACLU-Hawaii, claiming the organization did not uphold the values it preaches.

"In practice, however, while Plaintiff was asked to publicly hold government officials accountable to one standard regarding implicit bias, inequitable treatment, and free speech, she was required to remain silent and accept the opposite standard regarding these matters at the workplace of the ACLU-HI," the lawsuit states.  Jamie Joseph is a writer who covers politics. She leads Fox News Digital coverage of the Senate. 

Espitia has been employed by several ACLU branches since 2005. In 2019, she was hired by ACLU-HI as the smart justice campaign director, which focuses on reducing mass incarceration by 50% "while addressing racial bias throughout the criminal justice system."

In a series of events between 2019 and 2022, the complaint alleges that one of the defendants, Josh Wisch – a White individual – accused Espitia of discriminating against White men in a hiring decision for a position in 2019 when Espitia ultimately chose a Native Hawaiian woman with extensive organizing experience who was more qualified and was personally affected by incarceration. There was one White candidate among four finalists, while the other three were people of color.