Celine Dion being sued for failing to pay overtime
Celine Dion is now back in Las Vegas, which she now calls home, performing at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace and just received some bad news.
The five-time Grammy Award winner, Celine Dion is being sued for failing to pay overtime to an ex-employee.
The ex-employee is Keith Sturtevant who was apparently hired as a “warehouse manager” in March 2009 and says he regularly performed maintenance work at the couple’s Florida mansion. Sturtevant says that some of the work he performed during his employment included fixing ice makers and cleaning house shutters. He says that he also built stages and ran errands for both Celine Dion and her husband and manager, René Angélil.
Cover of Céline Dion
TMZ reports that a rep for Celine Dion says that the ex-employee was, “paid a handsome yearly salary that covered overtime”. The warehouse manager’s starting salary was reportedly $50,000 and he eventually received a raise to $63,000 which was his salary at the time he was allegedly fired. While many would hardly call $63,000 “handsome”, the songstress’ rep claims that overtime was included in that figure and that he was even offered what seems to be a very generous $10,000 severance package plus vacation pay which he turned down.
TMZ also reports that the suit alleges Celine and Rene “improperly and illegally designated [Sturtevant] as an exempt employee” — allowing them to avoid paying the overtime … which Sturtevant claims he’s owed since he regularly worked more than 40 hours per week.
He also claims that other employees were improperly and illegally designated as exempt employees.
Sturtevant is suing for back wages.
Since he was allegedly fired for , “poor performance”, the big question is whether Sturtevant’s lawsuit is with merit or simply a case of sour grapes?
Now that he has filed a federal lawsuit, the matter will be decided in a court of law or perhaps a settlement may be reached.
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