Former campaign workers sue Bloomberg for fraud over promised pay: report

Michael Bloomberg
Photo credit AP Photo/Rick Bowmer

NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – Mike Bloomberg’s campaign is being sued for fraud by former campaign workers who allege he promised them jobs through the general election and then laid them off, POLITICO reported Monday.

The proposed class action lawsuit was filed in federal court in New York City on Monday. Another proposed class action lawsuit, also filed in New York Monday, alleges employees were promised a year of pay and then sacked.

The lawsuits claim workers across the country were tricked into accepting jobs, thinking they’d be paid through November, whether or not the former New York City mayor got the Democratic nomination.

Bloomberg campaign workers have been laid off across the country over the past month. Some of them were guaranteed pay through March 31, while others have been guaranteed pay through the first week of April, as well as health benefits through that month, according to POLITICO.

The campaign’s hiring materials reportedly promised the jobs would last through November as long as aides would be willing to relocate. The campaign then indicated it’d prioritize former staffers for a Bloomberg super PAC, but on Friday Bloomberg said he’d transfer $18 million to the Democratic National Committee instead and the campaign said staffers could apply for DNC jobs.

Bloomberg spent more than $900 million on his campaign before dropping out of the race on March 4, a day after a disappointing Super Tuesday finish.

An unnamed campaign spokesperson released the following statement in reaction to the lawsuits, according to multiple outlets:

This campaign paid its staff wage and benefits that were much more generous than any other campaign this year. Staff worked 39 days on average, but they were also given several weeks of severance and healthcare through March, something no other campaign did this year.
Given the current crisis, a fund is being created to ensure that all staff receive healthcare through April, which no other campaign has done. And many field staff will go on to work for the DNC in battleground states, in part because the campaign made the largest monetary transfer to the DNC from a Presidential campaign in history to support the DNC’s organizing efforts.