An attorney for the former nanny is convinced the jury will find her favor.
There’s a dispute building between LaKeith Stanfield, his wife Kasmere Trice, and a member of their support staff, who supposedly presented the pair with legal documents on Thursday (Feb. 1) during a recent trip to New York.
The case, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that Stanfield and his wife, Kasmere Trice Stanfield, broke multiple labor code breaches on an October 2023 trip.
According to the complaint, the couple engaged Monica Sawyer as a $500 per-day travel nanny for their vacation to New York City with their newborn.
During the eight-day journey, Sawyer claims she hardly had time to eat, sleep, or wash due to Stanfield and his wife’s continuous demands. She alleges that the Oscar-nominated actor and his model wife have failed to compensate her for the arduous journey.
According to media sources, Monica Sawyer, the couple’s nanny, is suing them for unpaid pay and breaching multiple labor rules while on a trip to New York City to care for their kid.
The former nanny claims she was meant to earn $500 each day for the eight-day vacation in exchange for their young girl’s round-the-clock babysitting, whom the couple welcomed in July 2023.
“This is a spectacular display of elitism by two celebrities who can afford to pay Ms. Sawyer. “They could have simply shown her a modicum of respect and humanity and paid her for the time she worked, and all of this would have been moot,” Sawyer’s lawyer, Ron Zambrano, said in a statement, as reported by The Daily Beast.
“But given their failure to pay and dismissive attitudes, we’re now forced to seek legal remedies for Ms. Sawyer, and the case is clear.”
“Pay her what she is owed now, or we’re very confident a jury will find in our favor, and they’ll just pay more,” he said.
According to Sawyer’s lawsuit, the couple has not paid her for the service she performed from October 31 to November 7.
The plaintiff also claimed she was primarily left alone with the kid during the trip, while Trice would only make daily check-ins to offer detailed instructions on caring for the child. Sawyer also alleges she was prohibited from taking breaks to eat or use the facilities.
Sawyer claims they all struck a compromise on Nov. 4 when she requested a four-hour break each day for the rest of the trip. While she claimed Stanfield and Trice agreed that her breaks were everything, she was frequently bombarded with inquiries during her free time.
While preparing to travel to Los Angeles, Trice allegedly instructed the nanny that the child would be in her care on the way to the airport and throughout the journey. Sawyer voiced her dissatisfaction with the arrangement but said Trice was unwilling to modify her mind.
“That’s the role of the travel nanny,” Sawyer recalled Trice stating, adding that prior nannies had not complained about cooperating in the past.
Following the event, Trice reportedly canceled Sawyer’s travel, leaving her in New York City to fend for herself on her way back to California.
Stanfield and his wife’s attorneys have not publicly remarked on the lawsuit or the legitimacy of the claims levied against them.
