Nearly a year ago, we reported that Lady Gaga’s former personal assistant (and best friend for nearly a decade) Jennifer O’Neill was suing the pop star for $393,000 of unpaid overtime. O’Neill claims that she was on-call at every hour of the day for Gaga and that her salary of $75,000 didn’t cover the extra time she spent handling the pop star’s “communications and 20 bags of luggage.”
U.S District Judge Paul G. Gardephe ordered the case to proceed to trial because of the expectation that O’Neill had to be on-call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This expectation sometimes qualifies for overtime compensation.
The trial was scheduled to begin on November 4, 2013 but the case was dismissed when both parties settled for an undisclosed amount out of court.
Guess Lady Gaga changed her tune when in deposition she stated she would not give a cent to her former assistant. What do you think of these celebrity employment lawsuits–are they genuine or just shakedowns? Please leave your thoughts in the comment section below.