Lady Gaga and her former personal assistant, Jennifer O’Neill, decided to resolve their overtime pay dispute concerns out of court.
Jennifer O’Neill, 27, former personal assistant of the ARTPOP singer, sued her for depriving her of overtime pay during her service. The two decided to cancel the court case by settling on a mutual amount of pay.
On her sworn statement, O’Neill stated that at first, she and the singer were friends sharing a space at Manhattan’s Lower East Side before 2008. Gaga then hired her as a personal assistant and made her responsible for dealing with the singer’s communications as well as managing her many suitcases. As a personal assistant, O’Neill revealed that she had to be on-call to Gaga 24/7. Gaga told her that the job would not need her set hours but she had to be available when Gaga needed her.
Her starting pay per year amounts to roughly $50,000 and was increased to $75,000 shortly.
O’Neill’s charge to Gaga, who is Stefani Germanotta in real life, went back to 2009 up to February 2010, where the former didn’t receive overtime pay.
Gaga, defended her part, saying that her PA did not work with fixed hours and was expected to be available when she calls for her.
In her deposition testimony, according to CTV News, Lady Gaga had testified: "You don't get a schedule. You don't get a schedule that is like you punch in and you can play ... at your desk for four hours and then you punch out at the end of the day. This is when I need you, you're available."
Some details of the court case have revealed information not in favor of Gaga. According to Gurdian LV, O’Neill stated in court that the singer would not show herself in public unless she was completely dressed up. The assistant also revealed that when they are on the road, she would never get a chance to have her own hotel room.
O’Neill reportedly charged Gaga $393,000 on top of damages from a total of 7,168 overtime hours she wasn’t paid for.
O’Neill and Gaga’s out of court settlement was a no-surprise after legal counsels of both sides had informed Judge Paul G. Gardephe on Friday that they are close to settlement.
Due to the out of court settlement on Monday, O’Neill can no longer make other labor claims during the period wherein she had worked for Gaga and her company Mermaid Touring.
