Updates to our Terms of Use

We are updating our Terms of Use. Please carefully review the updated Terms before proceeding to our website.

Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Food Network Star Accused of Stiffing Maid

BROOKLYN (CN) - "Restaurant Stakeout" star Willie Degel cheated his former housekeeper out of overtime pay, the woman claims in Federal Court.

The Food Network personality was hit with a similar lawsuit by his restaurant employees in 2008.

Ana Marlen Membreno Jimenez says she was employed by Degel and his wife, Cynthia, as a domestic worker in their mansions in the Hamptons and in Old Brookville, Long Island.

She says she started earning $450 per week, then got $500 a week. Her salary was then reduced to $400 per week, she says, but reached $500 before she left in February 2012.

"For over three years, she worked long hours, cleaning homes and serving the needs of their family," the lawsuit states. Jimenez says she was paid a flat weekly salary that provided "less than minimum wage for the long hours she worked" to cook, clean, wash clothes, iron and care for the Degel's children.

Jimenez, who was employed by the Degels between February 2010 to February 2013, says she was never paid for overtime, despite working more than 10 hours a day and up to 70 hours a week.

A similar lawsuit was filed by employees of Degel's Uncle Jack's Steakhouse in the same court, according to the most recent complaint.

Jimenez seeks unpaid wages and damages for Fair Labor Standards Act violations.

She is represented by Robert McCreanor with Catholic Migration Services in Sunnyside, N.Y.

Categories / Uncategorized

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Loading...