In a lawsuit, chef Hermie Fajardo accuses film director Woody Allen and his wife, Soon-Yi Previn, of having fired for demanding an additional day off to fulfill his obligations as a U.S. Army reservist and a fair salary.
In the lawsuit, which is published on the United States judicial registry website, Fajardo alleges that the couple and their housekeeper, Pamela Steigmeyer, violated several federal and local laws with their firing last July and asks the federal court of the Southern Circuit of New York, in addition to a jury trial, an award of monetary damages.
According to the plaintiff, he was fired because “It was too much for Allen and Previn” that he needed “an extra day to complete a mandatory training exercise.”
“Defendants Tired of Plaintiff’s Complaints About Unpaid Wages and simply decided that a military professional who wanted to be paid fairly was not suitable to work in Allen’s home, violating federal and New York laws in the process,” the lawsuit states.
The cook, who, after having made several test meals for Allen and Soon-Yi, was hired as an exclusive private chef, alleges that he previously informed them that he had to be absent on certain occasions to fulfill their obligations to the Army.
According to Fajardo, Steigmeyer told him that he would receive his full pay even if there were days when he was absent from work due to his activities as a reservist, but several times he received an amount less than what he was entitled to – on one occasion up to $300 less – and he complained about it.
Upon returning from one of his tours as a reservist, Previn informed him that his work for them was ending at that moment and, according to the lawsuit, shortly after They “falsely” alleged that Allen and Previn did not like their cooking.
After the scandal that broke out in the early 90s when the relationship between Woody Allen and Soon-Yi, adopted daughter of Mia Farrow, the film director’s partner for years, became known, the director of films such as “Annie Hall” continued embroiled in controversy over accusations of sexual abuse by his adopted daughter Dylan Farrowevents supposedly occurred in 1992 and for which he was exonerated at the time.
However, the shock wave of the #Metoo movement and the broadcast of an HBO documentary in 2021 focused on the version of Dylan Farrow and his surroundings, have revived the controversy in recent years to the point that Allen has had serious difficulties to finance his latest films and to sell his memoirs in the United States.
Woody SAllen and Soon-Yi They married privately and by surprise in 1997 in Venice.
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