The cameras may not be rolling at SUR, but the drama doesn’t stop. Lisa Vanderpump and her husband, Ken Todd, are being sued by several former employees of the West Hollywood restaurants, Us Weekly can confirm.
According to the court documents obtained by Us on Tuesday, August 4, Olivia Beverly Hanson filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of herself and others who previously worked at SUR Restaurant on Friday, July 31, accusing the couple of breaking several California labor laws, including failing to pay overtime wages.
“For at least four years prior to the filing of this action and continuing to present, defendants have had a policy or practice of failing to pay overtime wags to Plaintiff and other non-exempt employees,” the docs state, claiming that employees “routinely [worked] over eight hours per day, 40 hours per week and seven consecutive work days in a work week without being properly compensated for hours worked in excess.”
The docs also allege that Vanderpump, 59, and Todd, 75, and their partners, Guillermo Zapata and Nathalie Pouille-Zapata, failed to “accurately track and/or pay for all hours actually worked” and allegedly manipulated or edited “time records to show lesser hours than actually worked during the pay period, to the detriment of Plaintiff and other situated employees.”
The SUR co-owners have yet to publicly comment or respond to the suit. (Us reached out for comment.) The legal filing comes several months after another former employee, Adam Pierce Antoine, took action against the pair for similar accusations. Us confirmed in January that Antoine alleged Vanderpump and Todd were “not paying wages” “failing to pay minimum wages” or “providing meal breaks.”
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While the case is ongoing, a source downplayed the allegations to E! News at the time: “These were two disgruntled ex-employees that had been written up with many warnings by management and subsequently let go. Lisa and Ken do not tolerate anyone that may be abusive to their staff or to patrons.”
Vanderpump and Todd rose to fame when the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills premiered in 2010. At the time, the reality TV personality owned Villa Blanca and SUR. In 2012, fans started following SURvers of past and present on the spinoff Vanderpump Rules, which wrapped up season 8 in April. The show has yet to officially be renewed for season 9 after the network cut ties with Stassi Schroeder, Kristen Doute, Max Boyens and Brett Caprioni for their past racially insensitive remarks.
While Villa Blanca recently closed, the duo later opened Pump Restaurant Lounge in 2014, TomTom in 2018 and the Vanderpump Cocktail Garden in Las Vegas in 2019.
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