Day After Mass Layoffs, a Suit Against the Messenger

Just a day after finding out they were getting laid off en masse, staffers at the Messenger are suing. Politico reports that a class-action complaint was filed Thursday on behalf of ex-producer Pilar Belendez-Desha "and all others similary situated," claiming that Belendez-Desha and the 300 or so other axed employees weren't given an appropriate heads-up about their last day of work. The suit cites both federal and New York state protections under the WARN Act, which requires large employers to give eligible workers at least 60 days' advance notice before a mass layoff.

The suit also demands now-terminated workers receive at least those 60 days in wages and benefits, as staffers say they were left after Wednesday's bloodbath without health insurance, severance pay, or their accrued holiday and vacation pay. Detractors gripe that the Messenger's business plan—with a mission to draw in a large centrist audience—was never viable in the first place. "It was business malpractice and human cruelty at an epic scale," Jim VandeHei, co-founder of Axios and Politico, told the "Puck" newsletter, per the AP. "Anyone who knew anything about the economics of media knew it would die quickly, spectacularly, and sadly."

Per Axios, the company founded by Jimmy Finkelstein was losing tens of millions of dollars and only brought in about $3 million of revenue during the eight months or so of its operations. Sources say Finkelstein tried to find funds to keep the site afloat for a few more months but wasn't successful. Before the final mass layoff, the company had done a first round earlier in January, letting go about two dozen employees, per the Daily Beast, which first reported on the suit. A spokesperson for the Messenger tells the outlet they had "no such knowledge" of the staffers' complaint.

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Meanwhile, now-former employee Jordan Hoffman, who penned film and entertainment pieces for the Messenger, has an essay out in New York Magazine about working for the outlet, and it's not a flattering portrait. "It was clear, pretty much on day one, that in addition to writing with an authoritative and articulate voice with over 15 years' experience, I would be expected to help shovel the furnaces with SEO coal," he writes. Read Hoffman's piece in full here. (More media stories.)