Two former employees of the now-defunct news website The Messenger filed an employment action this week against the site’s parent company, JAF Communications, and its former owner alleging breaches of their employment contracts and violations of labor law after the company refused to issue the pair’s severance payments.

Plaintiffs Neil Sloane and Ciro Scotti filed the lawsuit Monday in Manhattan Supreme Court seeking to recover their severance compensation and damages from JAF Communications, doing business as The Messenger, and its owner James Finkelstein. Finkelstein previously owned the Washington, D.C.-based publication, The Hill, before launching The Messenger in May 2023.