American media company Condé Nast has laid off four employees after they confronted the company’s HR head, Stan Duncan, over recent layoffs linked to the merger of Teen Vogue into Vogue.com under new editorial chief Chloe Malle. As part of the move, editor-in-chief Versha Sharma and six other employees were let go, The Post reported.
A video of the confrontation, showing employees questioning Duncan about the layoffs, has since gone viral online.
‘Return to work,’ HR head to employees
The video, filmed on the 34th floor of One World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan and shared by The Wrap, opens to show several employees standing outside Duncan’s office. When Duncan said that employees had “congregated” outside his office, one of the employees asked him, “What counts as congregating?” He skipped the question and urged the employees to return to work.
Another employee then asked, “Is there a place that you would be able to speak to us?” Duncan replied that he wouldn’t be able to. When the employee pressed further, suggesting that he didn’t think “the group of employees are not worth to,” Duncan responded, “Those are your words, not mine,” before reiterating, “Everyone should go back to your workplace.”
As Duncan walked away, one employee followed him, saying, “I work here. You dismissed us and said, Talk to us about this. You told us that we have to come work in person here four days a week. This is our workplace.”
When another employee asked if he was running away from questions, Duncan replied that he was “guiding them to their workplace”.
“OK, well, we have some quick questions. If you answer them, we’d be happy to go back to our desks,” asked yet another employee.
As Duncan continued walking back to his office, one employee asked if he didn’t want to take any questions. Duncan said, “I’ve directed you back to your workplace.” Several employees responded that it wasn’t a “good answer,” saying they were worried about their laid-off colleagues.
The most brutally awkward thing you'll see today: Condé Nast staffers confront head of HR Stan Duncan over layoffs outside his 34th-floor office.
— TheWrap (@TheWrap) November 6, 2025
Four of the employees featured in this exclusive video from the confrontation were then fired for "extreme misconduct."
The whole… pic.twitter.com/Ze6Vmyz0iI
Following the incident, Condé Nast fired four staffers – a senior fact checker for The New Yorker, a politics reporter for WIRED, a digital staffer for Bon Appétit and a video staffer, according to Semafor. They were informed that their actions violated company policy.
‘Extreme misconduct,’ Condé Nast says in defence
“Extreme misconduct is unacceptable in any professional setting. This includes aggressive, disruptive, and threatening behaviour of any kind,” The Post quoted the statement from the media company.
It added, “We have a responsibility to provide a workplace where every employee feels respected and able to do their job without harassment or intimidation. We also cannot ignore behaviour that crosses the line into targeted harassment and disruption of business operations. We remain committed to working constructively with the union and all of our employees.”
The company has also filed a charge with the National Labor Relations Board against the NewsGuild of New York, accusing the union of a “repeated and egregious disregard” of its collective bargaining agreement.
In a statement to The Post, the NewsGuild of New York and Condé United tagged the move “egregious” and “a flagrant breach of the Just Cause terms of our contract”.
