Vinyl one down, one to go in unfair dismissal tussle
An unfair dismissal claim brought against Vinyl Group by former head of The Brag Media Jessica Hunter has reportedly been resolved, while the more financially serious lawsuit from former Brag MD Luke Girgis remains pending.
Vinyl Group, a startup media conglomerate that includes Concrete Playground, Mediaweek, The Brag and Rolling Stone Australia among its titles, is being sued by Girgis in the NSW Supreme Court for unfair dismissal and the consequent loss of a $2 million bonus payment. The case was revealed by Vinyl in ASX reporting.
Jessica Hunter
Girgis sold Brag Media to Vinyl last year, remaining on board as MD, but exited just five months later. Jessica Hunter took over at Brag but was then dismissed in January this year.
Hunter took Vinyl to the Fair Work Commission in March – as reported in Capital Brief yesterday – with her claim scheduled to be heard late May. Although the claim is still listed in court records as open, sources say Hunter’s case was resolved “weeks ago”.
In its statement to the market about the Girgis case, Vinyl strongly refuted the former Brag CEO’s claims and made a counter allegation as follows: “Following an external investigation, Mr Girgis was terminated for serious misconduct, including but not limited to financial misconduct.”
Vinyl Group meanwhile filed its quarterly accounts yesterday, revealing an AI-driven content strategy and re-affirming its commitment to breaking even this calendar year. It also said it had formalised its internal structure into two divisions, separating Vinyl Media from the technology/e-commerce side of the business.
Vinyl CEO Josh Simons wrote “we are developing a suite of AI-driven publishing tools designed to multiply content output while supporting our journalists and editors.”
Vinyl Group is backed by Wisetech Global billionaire Richard White.
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