The former Cox Media Group/Birmingham, AL Market Manager has filed suit against his former employer, claiming CMG owes him more than $300,000 in unpaid “special retention bonus” pay for staying with Cox during the recent sale of its eight Birmingham market stations to SummitMedia on 5/3.
DuBose was part of a group of investors who formed SummitMedia and recently bought the Cox stations in Birmingham, Greenville, SC; Richmond, Louisville, and Honolulu. DuBose is now the EVP/COO for SummitMedia.
The lawsuit, filed 6/7 in federal court in Birmingham, claims Cox’s then-president David Franklin offered DuBose a “special retention bonus whereby DuBose would be paid bonus compensation for remaining with Cox through the sale of Cox’s Birmingham stations and meeting certain performance goals,” according to an AL.com story.
The bonus compensation was an incentive for DuBose to stay with Cox through the sale of its Birmingham stations, thereby enhancing the value of those stations, according to the suit.
Cox announced its intentions to sell its Birmingham stations and those in the other markets last July. When the sale was not completed by 12/31/12, Franklin made a successive offer, dated 1/8/13, saying Cox would pay DuBose a sum of $310,686.97 if he remained with Cox through the closing. DuBose accepted that offer on 1/18/13, the suit says.
On 6/10, a week after the sale to SummitMedia became final, Cox employees Paul Curran and Michael Joseph informed DuBose that Cox would not pay him any of the special retention bonus, the suit went on to say.
The lawsuit also claims Cox breached its agreement to pay DuBose “the value of his additional work” in upgrading Cox’s signal strength in the Birmingham market.
When asked for comment, Andy McDill, CMG Director of Communications told RBR-TVBR, “We don’t comment on pending litigation or personnel matters.”
The stations include Urban 95.7 Jamz FM and 98.7 Kiss FM, Country WZZK 104.7 FM, Classic Hits 106.9 The Eagle FM, and Sports-Talk ESPN 97.3 The Zone.
Whew … $300K-plus some change; pretty stiff amount. That’s probably the programming & production departments’ payroll for five years!
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