Conde Nast agreed to a $400,000-plus settlement with three out of four former employees who were fired after confronting chief people officer Stan Duncan last fall about layoffs at the company.
Following what the NewsGuild of New York described as a “march on the boss,” Bon Appetit’s Alma Avalle, Conde Nast Entertainment’s Ben Dewey, The New Yorker’s Jasper Lo and Wired’s Jake Lahut lost their jobs last fall and five other staffers were suspended. The NewsGuild of New York then filed grievances, as well as Unfair Labor Practice charges at the National Labor Relations Board in support of the four workers and five other employees, who had been suspended.
A Conde Nast spokesperson did not respond immediately to a request for comment Wednesday evening.
The impacted union workers at Conde Nast were also supported by NewsGuild of New York’s parent union, Communications Workers of America, through a member relief fund.
As part of the settlement, the three fired workers were reinstated so that they could resign from their posts and be given letters of recommendation. Their disciplinary records were also expunged, according to the union. The former workers had spoken out regarding layoffs at Wired and other titles, as well as the consolidation of Teen Vogue, according to the NewsGuild of New York. A video of the foursome confronting Duncan at the door to his office at One World Trade Center was widely circulated after the incident in November.
In a statement, Lo, a former senior fact checker at The New Yorker, said, “We fought because we had to, because so much of an equitable future as workers and journalists depends on our combined efforts to resist inhumane treatment.”
The NewsGuild of New York said Conde Nast’s actions violated their contractual Just Cause protections and federal labor law to engage in protected concerted activity as workers, according to a release from NewsGuild of New York.
Lahut, a former political writer at Wired, declined his settlement deal. In a post on “X,” Lahut said, “I’m so stoked for the rest of the Fired Four getting this deal. Conde is giving them nearly two years of backpay. They offered me 4 months. In the absence of a serious offer, I’m looking forward to my day in court.”
He could not be immediately reached for further comment Wednesday evening.
The NewsGuild of New York’s president Susan DeCarava said in a statement, “Our fight as a union is about more than a single contract; it is about ensuring workers’ rights to a just workplace.”
