Oregonian employee sues, says Advance Publications wrong to deny buyout

A long-time, but not long enough, Oregonian employee heads to court to argue he deserved a buyout from the Newhouse-owned Advance Publications just days after top-guy announced he's ending his 30-plus year stint as publisher.

The ad clerk had 24.82 years but needed 25, according to the lawsuit. There's more involved - a 10 percent paycut, a change in the company pension plan, promises from a former boss - according to the third-generation employee. He wants the buyout offer and more.

In Lawsuit claims wrongful denial of Oregonian buyout we learn The Oregonian wrongfully denied veteran employee James Bixler the company's 2008 buyout offer, a lawsuit against the company claims.

Willamette Week's James Pitkin uncovered the suit, which largely centers on one's reading of this phrase, with The Oregonian's underline:

All salespeople with less than 25 years of service.

That is one item in a list of people to be excluded from the buyout offer. Both parties appear to agree that Bixler was employed in sales for approximately 24 years and 10 months.

But Bixler contends that his service to the company includes his work as a paperboy, which began in the 1970s. He also alleges that the 25-year exemption was crafted specifically to exclude him from the offer.

Willamette Week has PDFs of the lawsuit, the buyout offer and an email to the boss on its web site.

I wrote about Fred Stickley's plan to exit and mentioned The Oregonian before in posts - links on the right. I accepted a buyout offer in 2007 and left the Flint Journal, an Advance Publication in Michigan, in May 2008.