The proposed class action, filed in New York federal court Thursday, alleges that the Jimmy Finkelstein-led news outlet failed to give more than 300 employees proper notice of their terminations in violation of the state’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which requires at least 90 days notice of a mass layoff.
Workers at The Messenger discovered Wednesday the company was shutting down for good from The New York Times. Hours later, the site only returned a white screen with “The Messenger” and an email address. No articles could be searched. Employees are not receiving severance.
The suit was brought by producer Pilar Belendez-Desha and seeks to represent all former workers impacted by the terminations. It seeks to recover up to 60 days in unpaid wages and benefits.
[The way that The Messenger treated its workers was disgraceful. Not only did they get canned without warning, the site took down all of their work and made it inaccessible for people who needed to use that material to find a job. That was just plain cruel, especially since the site is still operating (with just its logo page accessible). I haven’t written at Captain’s Quarters for 17 years, but I still have the archive up and available, and don’t ever plan to take it down. How difficult would it have been to provide that to the writers that they just dumped unceremoniously from their employment? — Ed]
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