Brandy Norwood Agrees To Pay $40k To Settle Legal Battle With Ex-Housekeeper Over Alleged Discrimination
Nov. 23 2022, Published 4:00 p.m. ET
Brandy Norwood reached a settlement with her ex-housekeeper and agreed to pay $40k to end the battle, RadarOnline.com has learned.
According to court documents obtained by RadarOnline.com, the 5-figure deal was revealed as the housekeeper’s lawyers are demanding an additional $87,445 in attorney fees.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, earlier this year, the 34-year-old ex-employee, Maria Elizabeth Castaneda, sued Brandy for age discrimination.
In her lawsuit, Castaneda said that she was denied her proper wages and meal break. Further, she accused the singer of age discrimination and wrongful termination
Castaneda worked for the singer from September 2002 to February 2022. The housekeeper worked at Brandy’s Calabasas mansion.
Castaneda was paid $125 per day for her work which included cooking, cleaning and doing the laundry. The ex-employee said Brandy terminated her in 2022 because she wanted a younger employee.
The suit claimed that their client was “not permitted to take an uninterrupted 10-minute rest break in the morning and an uninterrupted 10-minute rest break in the afternoon, nor was [Castaneda] permitted to take an uninterrupted 30-minute meal rest break.”
Castaneda demanded in excess of $250k but settled for $40k. “Lipeles Law Group was able to secure a $40,000 settlement for our client within 6 months of filing the complaint,” the firm wrote.
Brandy denied all allegations of wrongdoing and said the housekeeper was never an employee but an independent contractor.
Now, Castaneda’s law firm has demanded $87k to cover the legal fees in the case. They said they had the majority of their firm working on the case and spent a substantial amount of time on it.
“[Castaneda’s] counsel only seeks a fair recovery for the time, risk, and effort spent in representing its client and now seeks an award of attorney's fees and costs in the amount of $87,445.89” the filing read.
Never Miss an
Daily updates from the heart of Hollywood, right to your inbox
By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you’re agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
The ex-housekeeper’s lawyers had prepared to depose not only Brandy but her brother Ray J. “[Castaneda’s] counsel is not demanding 100% of the fees it incurred in this lawsuit; only those fees that directly pertained to attorney and paralegal work and only those fees that pertained to the matter upon which judgment was entered. Plaintiff’s counsel deleted any fees incurred performing administrative or clerical tasks,” the motion read.
The judge has yet to rule.
