Metro New York, the five-day-a-week freebie newspaper that is part of the struggling Metro International newspaper empire, is allegedly stiffing its former publisher out of his severance pay.
Daniel Magnus, who in January was one of 27 people fired from the North American operations of the international publisher, claims in a suit filed in federal Southern District court in New York that he was owed six months severance pay under his contract, but the company has reneged on paying him.
Magnus, who was bounced from a job that paid him a base salary of $300,000 a year, claims that the company falsely cooked up the claim that he was let go “for cause.”
“[Magnus] had a contract that said if he ever got terminated, he’d get six months notice and six months severance,” said Alan Sklover, attorney for Magnus. “They refuse to pay him.”
At the heart of the dispute is whether Magnus had OK’d Metro’s use of the ad slogan, “All of the World in less of the time.”
He said he had not authorized the slogan, but Metro officials insisted he did in an affidavit that they wanted him to sign in 2007.
Magnus insists he was pressured to backdate and falsely sign the document and that his refusal to do so soured the relationship with the Metro brass.
He is seeking to collect back wages of $218,000 plus a 25 percent penalty charge, according to the court papers. On top of that, he is also seeking total damages of $117.5 million.
Magnus also claims he should have been given a $150,000 bonus for his 2006 work instead of the $25,00 he received.
Metro executives did not return calls by presstime.