Online content producer MrBeast’s company wrongfully terminated a female staffer shortly after she returned from maternity leave, the woman said in a lawsuit alleging a sexist culture that pressured her to join a conference call from the labor and delivery room.
The staffer, Lorrayne Mavromatis, said company leadership subjected her to sexual harassment, demoted her after she complained internally about the harassment, and expected her to continue working during her parental leave in violation of the Family and Medical Leave Act.
The company, MrBeastYouTube LLC, had no policy for maternity leave and failed to inform her of her rights under the FMLA after she notified a manager of her pregnancy and said she would need to take leave, according to the complaint filed Wednesday in the US District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
Mavromatis alleged violations of the FMLA and wrongful termination under North Carolina law. She has additional discrimination claims under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that she plans to add to the complaint once she receives a right-to-sue letter from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, according to the complaint.
The company’s founder, James “Jimmy” Donaldson, known online as MrBeast, runs the company without basic employment protections and asks employees to adhere to a handbook known internally as The Beast Bible, Mavromatis claimed. The handbook includes guidelines such as “It’s okay for the boys to be childish” and “if talent wants to draw a dick on the white board in the video or do something stupid, let them,” according to the complaint.
The company disputed the claims as designed to “manufacture a payday from us,” in a statement from a spokesperson.
“This clout-chasing complaint is built on deliberate misrepresentations and categorically false statements, and we have the receipts to prove it,” the spokesperson said. “There is extensive evidence—including Slack and WhatsApp messages, company documents, and witness testimony—that unequivocally refutes her claims.”
Rebecca Mayer of The Noble Law Firm in North Carolina represents Mavromatis.
The case is Mavromatis v. MrBeastYouTube LLC, E.D.N.C., No. 4:26-cv-00059, 4/22/26.
(Updated with a statement from the company in paragraphs six and seven.)
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