Wed Mar 14, 6:15 PM

Another lawsuit has been signed, sealed, delivered.

Stevie Wonder was named as a defendant in a wrongful termination and retaliation suit filed Wednesday by a former employee of KLJH-FM, a Los Angeles radio station the singer co-owns. Reginald Thomas Jr. claims he was fired after he discovered that some of his colleagues were engaging in "plugola," and because he raised concerns about possible sexual harassment in the workplace.

(Plugola is similar to payola only, instead of receiving gifts or cash from record companies in exchange for playing certain songs on the radio, perks are accepted from advertisers in exchange for more on-air name-dropping—or plugs, if you will. Both are illegal and frowned on by the FCC.)

Thomas, a former sales manager at the Inglewood station, which spins urban-contemporary tunes, alleges in his complaint that he was fired not long after telling KLJH general manager Karen Slade that one of their regular advertisers had expressed concern that it had been the victim of a "shakedown."


Meaning, the company, LAX Department Store, didn't feel it was getting all the on-air plugs it had paid for and was being bullied into shelling out extra to on-air personalities.

Right after Thomas met with the advertiser in mid-February, the suit states, he observed that the attitudes of the station's disc jockeys and other employees "changed dramatically," and that they became "negative, cold and hostile" toward him.

Several days later, Slade, who is also named as a defendant, called Thomas into his office and asked, "Do you think Stevie Wonder is going to fire any of his people" provided there's plugola or other illegal activity occurring at the station? "No! He's going to do whatever he has to, in order to protect them," Slade said, per court documents.

According to the suit, Thomas also asked Slade about a late-night cell phone call made by Wonder to a female sales associate and expressed concern over whether that constituted sexual harassment. Slade responded, "You never know who he is f---ing around here. It's a lawsuit waiting to happen."

Thomas was fired Feb. 28, with Slade saying that she was invoking the "at-will" provision in his contract.

"He would not, and could not, have been terminated without the knowledge, consent and approval of Stevie Wonder," who had actively recruited Thomas for the position last summer, the lawsuit alleges.

Slade and a rep for Wonder were not immediately available for comment. KLJH's Delaware-based corporate parent, Taxi Productions, is also named in the suit.

Thomas, whose contract promised a $175,000-a-year salary when he was hired in August, is seeking unspecified damages and more than $3.5 million in unpaid wages and benefits, including money he says he would have received if he hadn't been prematurely let go.



oh!! oh!!

oh for crying out loud. plugola is even harder to prove than payola and is a time honored radio tradition. why'd he have to go whining to somebody about it? just take your free dinner at the local steakhouse and shut up

so Slade has a new cd, and....


i'm not following here.



"come on feel the noise!!"

This is not a surprise. Their station "needs an enima" to quote The Joker. For them to be owned by a major entertainer, they sound so ghetto and country.

This guy sounds like he was up to no good from the start.

'Plugola' sounds nasty...