Lawrence Mooney sues Triple M for over $1 million in damages

Lawrence Mooney is suing Triple M for more than $1 million in damages over his recent sacking from the radio station.

The comedian was removed from the prized breakfast radio slot back in November but Mooney isn't happy with Triple M's parent company Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) over unpaid wages. As reported by The Daily Telegraph, Mooney is taking his former employer to court to demand a year's worth of pay in damages.

Court documents claim he had a two-year contract to run from January 1st, 2021, until December 31st, 2022, and his pay was a base fee of $1 million plus GST per annum, amounting to around $83,333 plus GST per month.

Mooney was also reportedly eligible to receive bonus fees of up to $540,000 plus GST each year if the radio show either got an audience share of 6% or above, or was number one in the male 25-54 category. Mooney's show only achieved an audience share of 4.6 according to the last radio ratings survey of 2021.

According to the court documents, Mooney was informed by SCA chief executive Grant Blackley in a letter dated November 12th, 2021, that he would only pay the comedian's base salary up to and including that day.

"At no time during the term of the ­contract did Mooney commit any act that would entitle SCA to terminate and/or that could be relied upon by SCA as at the date of the ­purported termination to ­terminate," Mooney's lawyers state.

Mooney started working at Triple M in 2019 as host of the Moonman in the Morning program alongside co-presenters Jess Eva and Chris Page. His eventual exit, however, came after he suddenly disappeared from the show amid rumours of a huge falling out with Eva.

"SCA thanks Mooney for his contribution to the Triple M Network over the past five years," SCA explained in a statement released on November 15th. Moonman in the Morning then changed its name to Triple M Breakfast with MG, Jess & Pagey, with new lead host Mark 'MG' Geyer.

Mooney's case is set to be considered in court on Thursday, February 3rd.