‘Better have my money’: Karen Attiah celebrates arbitration victory over Washington Post

An arbitrator ordered The Washington Post to reinstate Attiah with full back pay and lost benefits after finding insufficient cause for her firing.

Karen Attiah is marking a major development in her dispute with The Washington Post with a playful nod to Rihanna. In an Instagram Reel shared with her followers, the award-winning journalist wrote, “Winning feels good,” adding that she was “channeling my inner Rihanna for some arbitration celebration shenanigans” alongside the hashtag #BetterHaveMyMoney.

The celebration comes nearly two months after an independent arbitrator ordered The Washington Post to reinstate Attiah with full back pay and lost benefits… arbitrator’s decision ordering the newspaper to reinstate Attiah and provide back pay and lost benefits after finding that her dismissal violated the labor agreement governing her employment. Karen Attiah was fired in September 2025 after posting commentary on social media following the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Karen Attiah (@karenattiah)

Her posts addressed political violence and what she described as differences in how Americans are expected to respond to violence depending on the identity and views of those involved. The newspaper characterized her posts as gross misconduct and argued that they violated its social media policies. Attiah disputed that interpretation and challenged her dismissal through the union grievance and arbitration process.

In the decision made public in August 2026, arbitrator Sarah Miller Espinosa found that the newspaper had not established sufficient cause to terminate Attiah and had violated its collective bargaining agreement with the Washington-Baltimore News Guild. The ruling ordered her reinstatement, back pay and lost benefits. The Post said it respected the arbitration process and declined to comment further.

Attiah’s reference to Rihanna’s “B— Better Have My Money” adds a pop-culture touch to a dispute that centered on her social media and employment situation. Attiah’s caption connects that theme to the financial remedy ordered in her arbitration case, though the post itself does not provide further details about the implementation of the ruling.