Groupon Reportedly Sued By Its Own Sales Staff

Things were going along so well for Groupon, but at some point things took a dramatic turn, and now it just seems to be negative story after negative story. Even CEO Andrew Mason’s internal staff memo aimed at boosting employee morale to combat an increase in negative press backfired as it was leaked and led to more questioning from the SEC.

Now, Groupon is getting sued by its own employees, according to a report from PaidContent. A class action suit has reportedly been filed on behalf of Groupon’s sales team, with former Groupon salesperson Ranita Daily leading the charge as the lead plaintiff. The report says the suit is based on claims that the company violated federal and state labor law, and aims to get three years of back wages and punitive damages for “hundreds” of employees.

Ouch.

The IPO has reportedly been delayed. Traffic is down while Groupon’s main competitor’s traffic is up. Employee morale is said to be low, and now employees are even suing.

It’s been a hell of a rocky year for Groupon, which started with an ill-advised Super Bowl ad.

It’s not all been doom and gloom. Groupon has made some interesting acquisitions and partnered with Foursquare. Facebook and Yelp have scaled back in the Deals department. That can’t hurt.

Groupon turned down a reported $6 billion buyout from Google last year. Do you think that has become a regret yet?

There are 5 Comments. Add Yours.

person287
September 10, 2011 at 8:40 am

I’ve never used groupon, partly due to the massive amount of pop-under ads for it. No other legitimate company uses pop-unders that I know of, it’s just dodgy.
- Steven
  September 11, 2011 at 1:57 am
  
  It makes you wonder how solid the company is or how good the offers are if there is other advertising from 3rd party networks.
gregory
September 11, 2011 at 3:34 pm

You can never be too greedy. I do not know how you dont first pay the staff. I never understood companies that could take this kind of example. This is a clear example of feed the cake.
LA SEO
September 13, 2011 at 2:11 pm

I still think they should’ve taken that $6 billion deal. I’ve seen different reports of how much money they are making, but with so many new competitors on the market, they are sure to lose some ground over time.
Rod Cook
September 13, 2011 at 3:56 pm

Sounds like greed in action if employees can get enough horsepower together to file a class action lawsuit. What is major issue? Promises (especially in stock) made and not honored! It will be interesting to to see what happens with this.

Rod Cook