LOS ANGELES (CNN) — Sharon Stone’s former nanny filed a lawsuit Wednesday accusing the actress of violating labor laws and making derogatory comments about her ethnicity.
Stone called it “an absurd lawsuit” with “made-up and fabricated” claims, filed by “a disgruntled ex-employee who is obviously looking to get money any way she can.”
Erlinda Elemen, who is Filipino, worked as a live-in nanny for the actress for more than four years, until she was fired in February 2011, the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court Wednesday said.
Elemen claims she was fired because she refused to give back overtime pay that Stone told her she did not deserve.
Stone told her it was only in January 2011 that she learned from her accountant that she was paying her overtime when she worked holidays or traveled to care for her three children, the suit said.
“Defendant Stone, however, accused Plaintiff of ‘stealing’ from her by taking the above-described overtime pay, told Plaintiff that it was ‘illegal’ for Plaintiff to have taken the pay, and asked for it back,” the court filing said.
Elemen refused to give the overtime pay back, arguing it was required by state and federal labor laws, the suit said.
“Defendant Stone then began to repeatedly berate Plaintiff in front of her staff, guests and others, for a period of approximately three weeks, for no other reason than Plaintiff had received overtime pay as hereinabove alleged,” it said.
The nanny was fired “shortly thereafter,” the lawsuit said.
The suit claims the nanny was “repeatedly subjected to numerous derogatory comments and slurs by Stone related to her Filipino ethnicity and heritage” during the last six months of her employment.
The alleged derogatory comments including criticism about the nanny’s Filipino accent. “She was told not to speak to the children because Stone did not want her Children to ‘talk like you,'” the suit said. “In addition, Stone made comments which equated being Filipino with being stupid.”
The lawsuit also charged that Stone was “repeatedly verbally dismissive of Elemen’s deeply held religious beliefs, criticized Elemen for frequently attending church and, on one occasion, even forbade her live in nanny from reading the bible in Stone’s house.”
Elemen sought and was given approval from the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing to sue Stone for an unspecified sum for unpaid wages, damages and penalties, the suit said.
“After she was terminated approximately one-and-a-half years ago, she filed claims for alleged disability and workers compensation,” Stone said in a statement to CNN. “Now, she is obviously looking for another opportunity to cash in.”
She insisted she would be completely vindicated in court.
“This is a frivolous lawsuit for absurd claims that are made-up and fabricated,” Stone said.
CNN’s Douglas Hyde contributed to this report.
