MrBeast is being sued by a former employee, who claims she was not paid overtime during the span she worked for the YouTube star.
In legal documents filed on Monday and viewed by Newsweek, Brittany Carter alleges that she was hired by his company, MrBeastYouTube, LLC, in July 2022, relocating from her home in Puyallup, Washington, to Greenville, North Carolina.
Carter was paid $10,000 a month "on a bi-monthly basis" for her role, for which she states she had signed an "Independent Contractor Services Agreement," according to the suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District. Carter said she was provided an apartment.
According to the complaint, Carter was required to "promptly respond to calls and messages any time of day on all days of the week," and "regularly worked hours in excess of forty hours per week. In fact, she averaged approximately 70 to 75 hours per week working for [MrBeast's company]."
Carter argues she was not exempt from overtime entitlement under the Fair Labor Standards Act "because she was not employed in a bona fide executive, administrative or professional capacity."
The lawsuit alleges that Carter was "misclassified as an independent contractor to avoid paying her overtime." Carter's lawyers have requested a trial, and are asking for the pay purportedly owed to Carter, plus interest.
Carter is seeking back pay for all hours worked in excess of 40 hours for each workweek, paid at one and one-half times her regular rate of pay, liquidated damages and legal fees.
Newsweek has contacted representatives of MrBeast and Carter via email for comment.
The lawsuit did not state when or why Carter stopped working for MrBeast's company.
MrBeast 'Employee Handbook'
In the complaint, Carter said she was provided with an "employee handbook," which she signed and returned. She said it contained:
- a six-page chapter titled "Benefits," that laid out "policies for benefits such as vacation leave, sick leave, and paid holidays"
- a chapter titled "Performance Standards" employees were instructed to "be punctual in reporting for work"
- another performance standard "prohibited employees from holding other jobs without getting consent from their supervisor"
At 26 years old, MrBeast—real name Jimmy Donaldson—holds the record for the most subscribers on YouTube, with more than 330 million followers at the time of writing. According to Forbes, in 2022 he was earning $54 million a year, mostly from ads on his YouTube videos. He has also become known for giving back to his followers, often uploading videos of his charitable acts.
MrBeast's company announced on November 1 it had fired between 5 and 10 employees following an almost three-month probe into the company's workplace culture. The reasons behind the firings were not immediately revealed, the Associated Press reported.
In a letter, investigators wrote "several isolated instances of workplace harassment and misconduct were identified during the investigation."
Sharing the findings on X, formerly Twitter, MrBeast wrote: "I was asked to refrain from making public statements to enable a detailed and unbiased investigation."
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