Bloomberg sued by aides for stiffing them on yearlong pay promise

Michael Bloomberg’s reputation will not recover from his ill-advised presidential campaign.

Bloomberg sued by aides for stiffing them on yearlong pay promise

By Politico, March 23, 2020:

The billionaire is facing at least two class-action lawsuits.

Former campaign workers for Mike Bloomberg are suing the billionaire former presidential candidate for fraud, alleging in a nationwide class action lawsuit that as many as 2,000 employees were promised to be paid though the general election before he laid them off.

Plaintiffs in the class action include two organizers who halted the interview process for other jobs to join the Bloomberg campaign, and another former organizer who postponed law school to work on Bloomberg’s 2020 effort.

The filing comes on the same day as another class action brought by a former Bloomberg field organizer that similarly argues the employees were tricked into taking jobs they were told would continue for a year.

The lawsuit by the three former workers in Georgia, Utah and Washington state, also filed in federal court in New York City, contends that the field organizers were fraudulently induced to accept jobs with the Bloomberg campaign based on the promise of guaranteed salaries though November. The ex-field staffers who filed the suit, Alexis Sklair, Nathaniel Brown, and Sterling Rettke, are represented by Peter Romer-Friedman of Gupta Wessler PLLC, and Ilann M. Maazel and David Berman of Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP.

Bloomberg on Friday purged all of those workers in six battleground states and guaranteed they would be paid only through the first week of April, with their benefits expiring at the end of that month. The first big round of layoffs across the rest of the country happened earlier this month, with their pay lasting though March 31.

Bloomberg hiring materials described as coming from headquarters promised work with “Team Bloomberg” though November, regardless of whether he became the Democratic nominee, provided that the aides working across the country were willing to relocate. Bloomberg’s team reiterated their plans to follow though — even if only in spirit — after the initial round of layoffs, when top campaign advisers indicated in emails and staff conference calls that they would be given priority on a planned Bloomberg super PAC.

 

Geller Report Staff Geller Report https://gellerreport.com/