Bloomberg Class Action Says Campaign Workers Wrongfully Terminated

Michael Bloomberg has been hit with a class action lawsuit from a presidential campaign field organizer who claims he owes her overtime pay and other compensation.

Donna Wood says she worked as an exempt-classified Campaign Field Organizer for Bloomberg’s campaign for president. She states that as part of Bloomberg’s national campaign, he hired field organizers throughout the United States.

Wood alleges that the Bloomberg campaign guaranteed employment through the presidential election in November 2020, even if Bloomberg did not win the democratic nomination.

Specifically, the defendant promised field organizers that he would continue to pay them to support his campaign and said that he would provide full healthcare benefits to his organizers and their spouses, partners, and children, the class action lawsuit states.

Wood maintains that many field organizers and other campaign employees either resigned or took leave from their then-current employment and many relocated to other cities to work for Bloomberg.

After Bloomberg dropped out of the race on March 4 2020, he terminated the vast majority of his field organizers and other campaign employees, the plaintiff alleges.

“Defendant’s termination of FOs and other campaign employees deprived them of promised income and health care benefits, leaving them and their families potentially uninsured in the face of a global pandemic,” claims the Bloomberg class action lawsuit.

As a field organizer, Wood called prospective voters and recruited volunteers for canvassing and phone banking efforts, she states. She also claims she worked more than 40 hours per week at her job as a field organizer.

The Bloomberg class action complaint alleges that it was Bloomberg’s policy to classify field organizers as exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime privileges and would not pay overtime wages. That said, the primary duties of the field organizers do not fall under any of the exemptions of the FLSA, according to the plaintiff.

The plaintiff argues that the defendant violated the FLSA by not paying his field organizers overtime, which they had earned and are entitled to by law.

“Through the conduct described in this Collective and Class Action Complaint, Bloomberg fraudulently induced Plaintiff and FOs and other campaign employees to enter into employment with Bloomberg, and breached its contract with Plaintiff and FOs and other campaign employees to provide them with continued employment through the 2020 presidential election,” the plaintiff says.

The Bloomberg campaign class action states that all of the work the plaintiff completed was assigned by Bloomberg, and that he is aware of the work that was performed by the field organizers.

Wood alleges that Bloomberg is aware or should have been aware that federal law required them to pay field organizers who were performing non-exempt duties including overtime in excess of 40 hours per week. 

The Bloomberg class action lawsuit also includes that Wood was not a manager, but instead completed non-exempt duties such as making phone calls nationwide in order to obtain votes for Bloomberg’s run for president.

The plaintiff states that she and putative Class Members have suffered damages by being denied overtime wages in accordance with the FLSA.

The common questions of law for this class action lawsuit include: 1) Whether Bloomberg contracted with the Class Members to provide employment through November 2020; 2) Whether Bloomberg failed to provide employment to Class Members through November 2020; 3) Whether the defendant fraudulently induced Class Members; and 4) Whether the defendant is liable to the plaintiffs for breach of contract.

A similar class action was recently filed against Bloomberg by a staffer who claims that the defendant fired numerous employees who were working on his campaign after dropping out of the presidential race.

Plaintiffs Alexis Sklair, Sterling Rettke and Nathaniel Brown say that Bloomberg promised them wages that were double than what other campaigns were paying their staffers.

In that lawsuit, the plaintiffs state that they want to hold Bloomberg accountable for the false promises that were made which would protect the economic security of more than 2,000 workers.

Sklair and the other former employees say that after Bloomberg dropped out of the race, he informed field staffers that they were being terminated and that they would receive their last paychecks at the end of the month. In addition, Bloomberg notified them that they would lose their health insurance at the end of the month, claim the plaintiffs.

Prospective Class Members in the Woods class action lawsuit include: “Defendant’s employees throughout the United States who were terminated on or after March 4, 2020.”

What do you think about Bloomberg not paying his field organizers overtime wages? Leave a message in the comments section below.

Wood is represented by Justin Swartz and Sally Abrahamson of Outten & Golden LLP and by Gregg Shavitz, Tamra Givens and Michael Palitz of Shavitz Law Group PA. The plaintiffs in the other class action lawsuit are represented by

Plaintiffs in the second suit are represented by Ilann Maazel and David Berman of Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP and Peter Romer-Friedman of Gupta Wessler PLLC.

The Bloomberg Overtime Class Action Lawsuits are Wood v. Mike Bloomberg 2020, Case No. 1:20-cv-02489; and Sklair, et al. v. Mike Bloomberg 2020, Case No. 1:20-cv-02495, both in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

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