Defy Media Facing Class Action Lawsuit Over Abrupt Employee Layoffs

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Defy Media, LLC has been hit with a proposed class action on behalf of former employees who were laid off without notice when the digital media company shuttered its Beverly Hills facility.

The plaintiff in the case claims she and approximately 80 other employees at the embattled online content producer's California facility were terminated without warning on November 6, 2018. The suit cites potential violations of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act and California law, arguing that the defendant's workers should have been provided with at least 60 days’ advance written notice of the “reasonably foreseeable” mass layoff.

Under the WARN Act, the suit explains, employers with more than 100 employees who put in a combined 4,000 hours of work per week (not counting overtime) must provide workers with proper warning of an impending mass layoff, defined by the statute as the termination of at least 50 employees and more than 35 percent of the facility’s workforce.

The lawsuit claims affected ex-employees are owed 60 days’ worth of unpaid wages, vacation pay, 401(k) contributions, and any other employee benefits they would have received during that time.