The Post Tries to Regroup

After announcing major cuts, the paper is delaying layoffs and attempting to hire back former staffers.

When the Washington Post announced mass layoffs, in February, the company offered severance packages to the roughly three hundred and fifty staff members losing their jobs. To receive their severance, these employees would have to sign their packages by April 10; they would then begin receiving the payments after April 30. But after the terms were set, something strange happened. Editors who were overseeing the laid-off employees began contacting several of them, asking them to return—not as full-time staff, but to work under what their union called a “delayed layoff.” Many of these editors had been given little say over who was originally dismissed, but in the weeks since, they have appeared to be driving an effort to bring certain reporters back to the newsroom. According to Kathleen Floyd, a communications lead and internal organizer at the Washington-Baltimore News Guild (WBNG), the bulk of these reach-outs happened in March; a few are still trickling in. Under the updated terms, the employees will resume their duties through July. “Everyone’s just doing the best they can with this really shitty situation,” a Post reporter said.