Employment lawyers don’t often get a chance to write about pop superstars, but as it turns out the Fair Labor Standards Act is providing just such an opportunity.
In December 2011, Lady Gaga’s personal assistant, Jennifer O’Neill, filed a lawsuit against Lady Gaga’s touring company claiming that she is owed more that $350,000 in unpaid overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act and New York State Labor Law.
What’s the crux of the dispute?
Well, really it’s not much different than those faced by many “more traditional” employers. The former personal assistant claims that she was misclassified as an “exempt” employee when she was actually non-exempt. As a result, she alleges that she is owed over 7,000 hours of overtime compensation for time that she spent attending to Lady Gaga at “stadiums, private jets, fine hotel suites, yachts, ferries, trains, and tour buses.”