Mediate sues The Wrap over hiring of Levine

Mediaite has filed a lawsuit against entertainment news site The Wrap over the hiring of media reporter Jon Levine despite his noncompete agreement.

Eriq Gardner of The Hollywood Reporter writes, “According to the complaint, Levine began working at Mediaite this past February as an at-will employee. That allegedly changed in July, when in exchange for an eight percent raise and a guarantee he could only be fired for cause, Levine signed a new agreement that included a non-compete clause.

“Just two months later, states the complaint, ‘Mr. Levine informed Colby Hall, Managing Editor of Mediaite, that Defendant had approached him (unsolicited) about a job at the TheWrap and offered a higher salary. To the best of Mediaite’s knowledge, Defendant was well aware of Mr. Levine’s Contract when making its offer and wrongfully advised Mr. Levine not to be concerned with the obligations of that Contract.’

“Mediaite says TheWrap has a ‘history of poaching Mediaite’s employees and co-opting its ideas and intellectual property,’ citing the poaching of reporters James Crugnale and Jordan Chariton as well as the introduction of a ‘PowerGrid’ a feature which offers a hierarchy of those in the entertainment and media industry.

“In September, Abrams met with Levine, according to the complaint, and informed him that accepting TheWrap’s offer would be a violation of his contract. Abrams also says he offered Levine a small salary increase.”

Read more here.