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US reality TV star Kim Kardashian slapped with lawsuit by ex-staffers over unpaid wages

Monitoring Desk

LOS ANGELES: American reality TV star Kim Kardashian is under legal trouble after she was hit with a lawsuit by her former maintenance staff.

The fashion mogul, 40, was sued by seven of her former gardening and maintenance staff members of her Hidden Hills mansion for being late with their pay and withholding 10 percent of it for taxes—and then proceeding to not forward those sums to the government.

They also argued that she refused to pay them overtime and also forced them to keep working without taking breaks in between for meals.

According to them, they were not given itemized pay stubs, while one ex-employee, aged 16, said that he was forced to work far past the 48 maximum allowable hours for an underage summer employee.

Another former staffer claims that he was sacked immediately after he complained about the issues of overtime pay, tax and meal breaks.

Aron Cabrea, Rene Ernesto Flores, Jesse Fernandez, Robert Araiza, Andrew Ramirez, his brother Christopher Ramirez and son Andrew Ramirez Jr. are all suing the beauty magnate for unpaid wages and the overtime money that she owes them.

They are being represented by Frank Kin of law firm Kim Legal. In a statement issued to the Daily Mail, he said: “Wage theft and other workplace violations are a widespread problem in Los Angeles. My firm is currently investigating other potential violations against these defendants, as well as other powerful families and businesses on behalf of everyday workers.”

Regarding the entire fiasco, a spokesperson for Kardashian told Page Six: “These workers were hired and paid through a third-party vendor hired by Kim to provide ongoing services. 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,” added the rep.

Meanwhile, a source close to Kardashian said: “She does not have a history of not paying her bills on time — never has and never will. She takes a lot of pride in paying people on time for their work so this issue has nothing to do with her and these workers are suing the wrong person.”

“The lawyer for the employees was very careful not to include Kim’s name in his statement or directly mention any claims against her, because he knows these employees never worked directly for Kim, only through a third-party vendor,” they added.