Following the spectacular flame-out of doomed “centrist” news site The Messenger, owner Jimmy Finkelstein left hundreds of employees high and dry without severance pay or health insurance—prompting them to file a class-action lawsuit, citing New York worker protection laws. And staffers are particularly incensed, The Daily Beast has learned, because an employee handbook—put together by The Messenger’s HR department—promised severance in the event of mass layoffs or restructuring of the business.
The manual in question addressed a theoretical “reduction of force” or “reorganization” by noting that impacted employees would be paid a certain amount following job cuts. “Severance will be paid at the rate of one and a half (1 ½) weeks per year of service, not to exceed six (6) months in duration. Subject to applicable law, employees shall be required to execute the Company’s standard release as a condition of receiving severance pay,” the handbook explains.
Ex-employees told Confider that the two dozen Messenger staffers who were laid off a month before the site’s implosion did indeed receive two weeks’ severance—but those who remained until the end were left empty-handed.
The “personnel policies guidebook,” which was reviewed by Confider, does add the following disclaimer on the very front page: “The guidelines and procedures in the Guidebook are not intended or set forth as contractual commitments or obligations to any employee.” Before the $50 million startup burned through all its cash in less than a year, Finkelstein went on an intense hiring spree, bringing in a bevy of high-profile journalists and media executives while promising to eventually create a newsroom of 550 staffers. (The Messenger eventually topped out at 300 employees.) Finkelstein initially dangled attractive salaries to recruits, in an effort to attract talent on both the editorial and business sides—resulting in many of the top earners bringing in high six-digits or even a million dollars annually.
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