Pop superstar Mariah Carey was sued on Monday by former nanny Maria Burgues.
Burgues filed a suit in the Los Angeles Superior Court, claiming that she was fired in April 2018 after complaining about her pay and working conditions, reports Variety.
Burgues says she was paid $25 (Dh91.8) an hour to babysit Carey’s children. She was obliged to travel with Carey and the children when Carey went on tour, but says she was not paid for her travel time.
According to the suit, Carey’s children had a bodyguard Marcio Moto, who routinely screamed at Burgues and made her feel threatened. In December 2017, Burgues says that they were all driving to Las Vegas together, and Moto started yelling at Burgues and threatened to kick her out of the car and leave her by the road.
She complained about the incident, but says nothing was done.
In another incident, Moto was driving Burgues and Carey’s children to dance class in California, while using his phone to video chat with his girlfriend. The suit claims that Moto was distracted and nearly had an accident.
Later, at the dance studio, one of Carey’s children walked out of the class unnoticed.
The suit alleges that Moto was again distracted by his phone, but blamed Burgues for the incident, yelling at her in front of the children, parents, dance instructors and other nannies.
After that, Burgues was fired.
The suit seeks compensation for severe emotional distress. Burgues also claimed that she was not given proper wage statements, and was not given her total wages due when she was fired.
Carey’s attorney said he could not comment because he had not seen the suit.
The attorney is also fighting a lawsuit by Lianna Shakhnazaryan, a former assistant who claims Carey’s ex-manager, Stella Bulochnikov, treated her abusively. Carey has accused Shakhnazaryan of secretly recording her and trying to extort her out of $8 million.
In a ruling on Monday, Judge Richard J Burdge Jr barred Shakhnazaryan from obtaining Carey’s medical records in the dispute. Shakhnazaryan’s attorneys had claimed the records would be relevant in assessing Carey’s emotional distress or ability to consent to being recorded. Burdge rejected both arguments, finding the records to be irrelevant.
In November, Maria Salazar, a former housekeeper of Carey, also filed a lawsuit claiming she was not adequately paid.
