Last day for laid-off 'Leno' workers

Tonight Show with Jay Leno," who left with an early Christmas bonus check and no guarantee of a job when the strike ended.

"Do we have a job when the strike ends? That's what everyone keeps asking," one former staffer said. "They've guaranteed no one a job. They just keep saying, 'The letter explains it."

That letter is a notice from NBC's human resources department that says, "If your services are needed, we will contact you."

Sources said that while some higher-level executives received severance packages, other staffers received only Leno's traditional bonus of $100 times the number of years the staffer has been on the show.

Writers were not included in the bonuses, but one writer emphasized that "he's not being Scrooge. He just wanted to get the staff taken care of first. I can't emphasize enough how generous Jay is."

Others were less forgiving.

"We haven't heard from him since the second or third day of the strike," the former staffer said. "He called on speakerphone while we were in our daily meeting and said, 'Don't look for other jobs , no one's going to lose their house, we'll get though this.' Two weeks ago, we got the heads up that we had two more weeks (of pay) and that's it. Everyone wondered, 'Is Jay going to come through?' And nothing happened. Conan makes less and he said, 'I'm going to pay for my people.' "

Still on the payroll are the exec producers and a skeleton crew to answer phones. Leno was not on hand for the layoffs. Instead, Leno's assistant notified the staff yesterday that they would get their Christmas bonus early. Leno's bonuses usually go out the week before Christmas.

"People are devastated today because we thought that he meant something more than an early Christmas bonus," another said. "A lot of people didn't look for other work, based on Jay's assurances."