By Alexander Wilson-
Kim Kardashian West must show integrity and settle the law suits from seven members of her domestic staff that they were not paid enough or given breaks while employed at her California home. The claim against a billionaire like Kardashian looks very bad on her.
The plaintiffs claim Kardashian West failed to pay overtime, cover expenses and provide legally mandated breaks, according to a civil action filed in Los Angeles county superior court.
Kardashian was also alleged to have not furnishing those withholdings to the government and also had a 16-year-old on the crew to surpass the 48 weekly working hours allowed.
One of the plaintiffs listed in the lawsuit even claimed to have been fired once raising some of these issues. The Plaintiffs also alleged in the lawsuit that employees were not paid on regular periods.
“Plaintiffs never received any paystubs, were not paid on regular pay periods, were not given their required meal and rest breaks, were not provided a means to record all their hours, were not paid all their hours, were not reimbursed for employment expenses, were not paid all their overtime wages, and were not paid their wages upon termination of employment,” according to the suit.
The lawsuit adds: “the matter in controversy, exclusive of interest, exceeds $25,000”. The action also claims Kardashian West withheld 10% of their pay for taxes but did not report their employment to tax authorities.
A representative said in a statement that Kardashian West could not be held responsible since the employees came through an unnamed “vendor”.
“These workers were hired and paid through a third-party vendor hired by Kim to provide ongoing services,” the representatives said in a statement.
“Kim is not party to the agreement made between the vendor and their workers, therefore she is not responsible for how the vendor manages their business and the agreements they have made directly with their staff. Kim has never not paid a vendor for their services and hopes that the issue between these workers and the vendor who hired them can be amicably resolved soon.”
The statement is most immature and lacking in any real form of dignity. The expectation that Kim Kardarshian will use her common sense may to overly optimistic in her case- most other celebrities in her shoes will not be smeared by such a suit.
Andrew Ramirez, his brother Christopher Ramirez and son Andrew Ramirez Jr, along with Aron Cabrea, Rene Ernesto Flores, Jesse Fernandez and Robert Araiza are now suing the 40-year-old for all of the unpaid wages and overtime they say she owes.
The new lawsuit comes less than four months after Kim filed for divorce from estranged husband Kanye West, 43, on February 19.
Mother-of-four, Kim is worth an estimated $1billion thanks to her cosmetics and clothing businesses, as well as product endorsements and her income from Keeping Up With The Kardashians.
Skims, a shapewear line, was launched at the end of 2018 while KKW Beauty, unveiled in 2017, brought her a $200million windfall last year when she sold a 20 per cent stake in the business to beauty giant Coty.
Kim who recently revealed that she failed her law exams may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but must have qualified lawyers who can tell her to solve the problem and save herself unnecessary embarrassment of losing an obvious case in the full glare of the public.