The Newspaper Guild has filed claims alleging the owners of Newsweek are “illegally muzzling” a handful of journalists who have been offered jobs by new owner IBT Media.
Only about five employees of Newsweek/Daily Beast have been offered jobs to come over and work for IBT, which announced in August that it was buying the title from Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp.
The Guild said it asked the National Labor Relations Board to investigate after it was alerted that the offer letters prohibited the employees from discussing their working conditions or criticizing their employer.
“The law gives all employees the right to discuss their pay and other terms of employment with one another, even if it means being critical of their employer,” said Guild president William O’Meara.
A spokesman for IBT’s owners said they were reviewing the complaint.