Former Bloomberg staffer seeks class-action lawsuit over layoffs
A former field organizer for Michael Bloomberg’s now-defunct presidential campaign sued on behalf of herself and other former staffers, claiming the candidate promised more than 1,000 staffers jobs through November before laying them off last week.
In the lawsuit filed in federal court Monday, Donna Wood argued the former New York City mayor deprived field organizers “of promised income and health care benefits, leaving them and their families potentially uninsured in the face of a global pandemic.”
Bloomberg, who ended his White House bid after a disappointing Super Tuesday showing, had initially planned to fund campaign efforts through November and continue to pay staff regardless of whether he won the Democratic nomination. But last week, he laid off staff and transferred $18 million to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to help defeat President Trump.
“The Bloomberg campaign had represented to folks they were going to keep people on through November, regardless of his candidacy, which is one of the reasons we think he attracted such talent,” Sally Abrahamson of Outten & Golden LLP, one of the attorneys on the case, told NBC News. “He’s terminating, we believe, over 1,000 people at a time when we believe unemployment is likely going to be 20 or 30 percent, and they’re going to lose their health care.”