Posts Tagged ‘ Misclassified Employee ’

Celine Dion Sued for Overtime Pay, Settles with Former Employees

October 2nd, 2012. By AbiK

Seems the Queen of Love Songs hadn’t been showing the love to two of her former employees. Celine Dion has settled an unpaid overtime lawsuit filed by her former warehouse manager, Keith Sturtevant, and her former front-gate security guard, Raymond Weaver.

To be fair, the lawsuit was filed not only against Ms. Dion, but also against her husband, Rene Angelil and their production company, Feeling Productions, Inc. (Case No. 2:2012cv14236 filed June 27, 2012 in Southern District Court of Florida)

Sturtevant claimed he not only worked at Dion’s warehouse, but also performed various duties at Dion’s house—things like cleaning window shutters on the house, fixing kitchen items and running errands. Sounds like he was a jack-of-all-trades for Ms. Dion as he also apparently set up and tore down party equipment at various events hosted by Dion. According to the lawsuit, Sturtevant was classified as an exempt employee—meaning he would not be eligible for overtime pay; but he performed non-exempt job duties and, therefore the lawsuit argued, he should have been entitled to overtime pay under the FLSA. (Click here for more on exempt vs. non-exempt and what it all means.)

The other plaintiff, Weaver—the security guard—alleged having to take on other duties unrelated to security. These include cleaning Dion’s driveway (it apparently would get berries on it), hosing down patios, cleaning rust off bolts in the swimming pool and lazy river, cleaning tennis courts and, from the sound of it, playing cabana boy should a beach umbrella or two need to be set up—or taken down. Weaver also claimed he was misclassified as exempt.

Well, we won’t know the terms of the settlement, but rather than go to court to duke it out Ms. Dion has settled with Sturtevant and Weaver. And let’s hope both gentleman request detailed job descriptions at their next places of employment…

Tags: Celine Dion, FLSA, Misclassified Employee, overtime lawsuit, Overtime Settlement, Unpaid Overtime
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