LOS ANGELES (CBS/AP) — Sharon Stone is being sued by a former nanny who claims the Oscar-nominated actress insulted her Filipino heritage and fired her after discovering she had been paid overtime.
Erlinda T. Elemen filed the lawsuit seeking unspecified damages on Wednesday, 15 months after she was fired. The lawsuit state Elemen worked for Stone for more than four years and was promoted to head nanny, but was fired after the actress demanded she return overtime payments.
Elemen’s complaint states Stone’s accountants made the overtime payments because the nanny worked on vacations and holidays, but Stone did not approve. She claims the actress insulted her accent and also denigrated her religious beliefs.
Rob Schmitt, reporting for CBS2 and KCAL9, spoke to Elemen’s attorney Solomon Gresen.
Gresen maintains that Stone routinely degraded his client for her culture and her religion. He says at one point, Stone told Elemen she wasn’t allowed to read the Bible in Stone’s home.
He also alleged Stone told Elemen she wasn’t allowed to speak in front of Stone’s children so they wouldn’t learn to talk like she did.
Stone’s publicist, Paul Bloch, wrote in a statement that Elemen was a disgruntled former employee and called her claims absurd and fabricated. He also said the former nanny was just trying to make money “any way she could.” Bloch said Stone would be “completely vindicated in court.”
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