Former Messenger employees sue shuttered news site

Former employees at The Messenger filed a class action lawsuit against the media company Thursday, a day after the failed start-up shut down and dismissed all of its roughly 300 employees.

The lawsuit alleges that The Messenger violated the WARN Act — a labor law that protects employees from mass layoffs or shutdowns — by failing to give employees at least 60 days notice of their impending terminations, and denying them benefits and wages they’re owed.

Pilar Belendez-Desha, formerly a senior producer at The Messenger, is serving as the plaintiff in the case, which was filed in U.S. District Court in New York, where the company was headquartered.

The lawsuit alleges that the company’s actions violated both federal and New York state labor protections under the WARN Act, and claims — as many reporters from the company also did on social media Wednesday — that The Messenger failed to deliver employees severance and terminated their healthcare.

Belendez-Desha is bringing the suit "on behalf of herself and other similarly situated former employees who worked for [The Messenger] and were terminated without cause, as part of, or as the foreseeable result of, a mass layoffs or plant closings," according to the brief.

The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Messenger’s sudden shutdown — which was reported by the New York Times before it was announced internally — was the latest blow for the news business, where recent layoff announcements have rocked the industry.

Founder and CEO Jimmy Finkelstein announced The Messenger's immediate closure shortly after the Times report, putting an end to the ambitious project less than a year after it started.

The company’s closure comes after months of financial woes: In a December meeting, board members considered shuttering the startup after projections showed it would run out of money by the end of January.