Crime & Safety
Billionaire Sued By Sister's Ex Caretaker Over Work In Sherman Oaks
The owner of an NBA and MLB team was sued by a woman who says she was not given meal or rest breaks while working at a Sherman Oaks home.
SHERMAN OAKS, CA -- The billionaire owner of the Chicago Bulls and White Sox was sued today by a woman who alleges she was not given meal and rest breaks or paid overtime while working as a home health care worker for the businessman's sister at the sibling's Sherman Oaks home before being fired in July.
Tiana Waters is seeking a total of $750,000 in compensatory and punitive damages in the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit brought against 86-year-old Jerry Reinsdorf, alleging violations of the state Labor Code as well as unfair business practices. A representative for Reinsdorf could not be immediately reached.
Waters, 32, of California City, was hired last Dec. 30 at $30 an hour to provide care services to Reinsdorf's 80-year-old ailing sister, Judith Reinsdorf, sometimes being on the job as many as 48 hours straight, according to the suit. She started work at 7 a.m. and reported to a family physician, Dr. Irwin Lehrhoff, the suit states.
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A few months after Waters was hired, Judith Reinsdorf's daughter, 45-year-old Lara Alameh, returned from living out of state to stay with her mother and began issuing orders to the health care workers, the suit states.
In July 2021, Alameh asked that Waters wear a baby monitor or sit beside Judith Reinsdorf in her bedroom to prevent the infirm woman from having seizures, a directive that the plaintiff objected to because stopping a seizure could kill the woman, the suit states.
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However, Alameh told Waters, who is part Black, that her ``culture does not know when to shut up and (that she) should stop talking back and just do (her) job,'' according to the he suit, which further states that Lehrhoff did nothing when she complained.
Waters was regularly interrupted during her lunch period and was not encouraged to take rest breaks, the suit states.
Reinsdorf allegedly classified Waters as an independent contractor and he fired her on July 15, shortly after the dispute with his niece, according to the suit, which further alleges the businessman owes her unpaid wages as well as overtime pay.
-- City News Service