Lisa Vanderpump and Ken Todd’s Former PUMP EmployeeWins $24k in Lawsuit Against the Couple
Lisa Vanderpump and Ken Todd’s Former PUMP EmployeeWins $24k in Lawsuit Against the Couple
Lisa Vanderpump and husband, Ken Todd’s former employee has been awarded $24k after suing the couple over unpaid wages earned during the pandemic.
Erika Lepe, who worked at the Vanderpump Rules couple’s since-shuttered restaurant, PUMP, filed a claim with the California Labor Commission, Radar Online reports. The ex staffer worked as a bookkeeper, personal assistant and manager for the West Hollywood eatery from November 1, 2013, to June 8, 2020, the date she was let go.
Lepe’s lawsuit stated that she was owed $14,076.90 in unpaid wages between the dates March 16 – June 8 in the year 2020. She claimed that she was owed an additional $3k in unused vacation time.
Lepe also sued P.U.M.P. LLC for punitive damages.
Lepe and Todd appeared at a March 2023 hearing, where Lepe accused the company of withholding six bi-weekly payments of $2,307.
The labor commissioner stated — “[Todd] testified that P.U.M.P. was closed at the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic in March 2020 but that [Lepe] was kept on performing work for some time thereafter.”
He said that Lepe continued working to help PUMP secure government PPP loans. Todd explained that the PPP work continued until April 2022. He said that Lepe “may have been kept on performing work until” June 2020.
Lepe submitted a series of emails and texts that detailed Todd’s work instructions on the dates in question, at the hearing.
The commissioner ruled that Lepe had provided “credible testimony and evidence that she was performing work” as late as June 2020. The labor commissioner stated that Todd was “unable to provide a clear answer as to how long [Lepe] was performing work or when precisely she stopped working for Defendant other than the business was not shuttered until” June 15, 2020.
The commissioner determined that Lepe was owed $13,846.20 in unpaid wages, but denied that she was entitled to unused vacation wages. She was awarded a total of $24,767.62, which included $3,998.32 in interest and another $6,923.10 in penalties.
Last week, Lepe requested that a Los Angeles Superior Court judge confirm the award, so she can start collection proceedings.
Todd and Vanderpump are also embroiled in a separate lawsuit filed by the couple’s former PUMP landlord. 8948 Santa Monica Partner stated in their lawsuit that Todd and the business had signed off on transferring and conveying the liquor license to them upon termination of the lease. The company claimed that Todd’s statement was false and that he never intended to adhere to the terms of the lease after it expired.
The owner is suing for $750k in damages for the supposed contract breach and another $200k for Todd’s refusal to turn over the liquor license and taxing fixtures.
Todd and his company responded to the lawsuit, arguing that their acts and omissions were justified and undertaken in good faith as he operated his business.
In August, Todd alleged that the landlord’s own negligence was to blame for any injury the company suffered. He demanded that the lawsuit be dismissed.
In May, Lisa announced that they were closing the Hollywood hotspot after a ten year run.
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