MediaWorks employment battle: Embattled company loses case against competitor

Embattled MediaWorks has lost an employment case against one of its rivals, coming off the back of potential future legal trouble for the owner of the ill-fated Today FM. Photo / Michael Craig

Embattled MediaWorks has lost an employment case against one of its rivals, coming off the back of potential future legal trouble for the owner of the ill-fated Today FM.

MediaWorks tried to get an injunction to stop former employee Dae Chun from working for Go Media, another billboard company.

The case was dealt with by the Employment Relations Authority (ERA), which found “justice weigh[ed] heavily in favour of the status quo” and so declined the injunction.

Chun and Go Media celebrated the decision, with video showing Chun popping a bottle of prosecco in response.

Go Media also changed its billboards to say “Seize the Dae” and “Dae Won” - not-so-subtle digs, especially considering how close they were to MediaWorks’ central Auckland office.

MediaWorks’ application alleged Chun breached the restraint clause in his employment contract and didn’t act in good faith.

Further, MediaWorks argued it should be awarded penalties and damages for Chun’s alleged breaches through his work with Go Media. It also applied for penalties on Go Media for helping Chun’s alleged breaches.

The ERA ordered MediaWorks to pay Chun and Go Media $1125 each towards their legal costs.

Now-redundant MediaWorks employee Tova O’Brien was pulled into an ERA decision in January last year over a restraint of trade clause with her previous employer Discovery.

O’Brien lost the case and was forced to pay Discovery $2000 to “compensate it for the inconvenience and resources expended in pursuing this matter”, a member of the ERA said.

MediaWorks director of news and talk Dallas Gurney said the company “backed Tova 100 per cent throughout the process and [couldn’t] wait to have her join us at Today FM”.

In March this year, O’Brien and her colleagues at MediaWorks-owned Today FM learned they were out of a job live on-air.

Employment experts believed the abrupt closure of the radio station could expose MediaWorks to legal action by its high-profile staff.

The affected workers included stars O’Brien, Duncan Garner, Lloyd Burr, Rachel Smalley, Mark Richardson and Dom Bowden.

Employment law expert Susan Hornsby-Geluk told the Herald the shortness of the consultation period could, in her view, suggest that “the outcome is a foregone conclusion and the process is a sham”.

“Affected employees would potentially have grounds for a personal grievance if the process is found to be unfair and would then be entitled to an award of compensation for humiliation and distress,” Hornsby-Geluk said.

“The abrupt announcement and lack of warning would be factors that would exacerbate this and lead to higher awards of damages,” if this is the first they have heard of it, Hornsby-Geluk explained.

“Employees could also potentially claim loss of wages if alternatives to closing the station down may have been possible.”

In a column for the National Business Review, Garner wrote: “We rely on advertising and the market went soft late last year, so these faceless Aussies [bankers] show up, pay lip service to New Zealand employment law, pay lip service to proper consultation in good faith, and then walk away thinking that’s a done deal, station is dead, staff will go quietly.”