Lisa Vanderpump and her husband/business partner Ken Todd have once again been accused of not paying their restaurant employees.
As The Ashley previously told you, a former employee by the name of Adam Pierce Antoine reportedly filed a class-action lawsuit against the restauranteurs in mid-December for failing to pay minimum and overtime wages. Nearly eight months later, former SUR employee Olivia Hanson has filed a similar lawsuit against the couple on behalf of herself and other co-workers, The Sun reports.
(Lisa and Ken’s business partners, Guillermo and Nathalie Zapata, are also named in the suit.)
Court documents allege Lisa and Todd “failed to pay workers minimum and overtime wages, provide proper meal and rest breaks, provide accurate wage statements or provide workers with pay stubs at the end of their employment.” These allegations are similar to the ones made in Adam’s lawsuit, though he also accused his employer of manipulating or editing time records to show lesser hours worked and of not paying minimum wages for hours off the clock when employees were in training or on call.
Documents claim Olivia is requesting a jury trial and is seeking damages for all wages earned and owed. Her request also includes “minimum and overtime wages, damages for unpaid premium wages from missed meal and rest periods and damages for gratuities earned but not received, among related reparations.”
In a statement to Page Six, lawyers for SUR denied the allegations.
“SUR denies the allegations in the lawsuit brought by our former employee, Olivia Hanson,” the statement reads. “The company takes employee compensation very seriously and has extensive policies and procedures in place to comply with the wage laws. We care deeply for our employees and are committed to providing them with fair and competitive compensation that is fully compliant with the law. During this difficult and challenging time, we will continue to strive to responsibly and safely reopen our restaurant in order to return our valued employees back to work.”
While Lisa confirmed last month that her Beverly Hills restaurant Villa Blanca had closed, she remains a co-owner of PUMP, SUR and TomTom in West Hollywood and the Vanderpump Cocktail Garden at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.
This recent lawsuit is the second to hit Lisa and/or one of her businesses this year, as a former groomer at Vanderpump Dogs, the dog rescue facility owned by Lisa, filed a lawsuit in January against The Vanderpump Dogs Foundation on claims of sexual harassment and wrongful termination. The former groomer alleged she resigned from her position at the facility “because of the intolerable working conditions created by her manager” and his superiors.
Despite that lawsuit, it was recently announced that Lisa is set to star in a new spin-off show about her dog rescue, which will air on Peacock – the newly-launched streaming service from NBC Universal.
Lisa also announced last week her plans to launch a podcast, where she will discuss topics including business and entrepreneurship.
RELATED STORY: ‘Vanderpump Rules’ Star Danica Dow Files Restraining Order Against Ex & SUR Bartender Brett Willis
(Photos: Paul Archuleta/Getty Images; Instagram)
One Response
These two have more money than they know what to do with so why every other week do we hear about them getting sued for not paying one of their employees correctly?! Is it one employee claimed it happened & a few others wanted to see what they could get out of it and followed suit? Could be but probably not!! The only employees she seems to really care about are the ones that have made her millions on her soon to be expired reality show! I used to love Lisa & Ken but, now, I’m getting the impression they are just really fake selfish people!! If not, they would have used some of their fortune to pay their poor employees who have been out of work during this pandemic!!