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Former Trump Chauffer Sues for Overtime

A New Yorker who had been President Donald Trump’s personal driver for 20 years claims in court that the “purported” billionaire stiffed him on overtime.

MANHATTAN (CN) - A New Yorker who had been President Donald Trump’s personal driver for 20 years claims in court that the “purported” billionaire stiffed him on overtime.

Represented by the firm Davidoff Hutcher & Citron, the July 9 suit in Manhattan Supreme Court demands compensation for six years of service under the applicable statute of limitations.

The driver, Noel Cintron says he “was forced to work thousands of hours of overtime without compensation" before Secret Service took over the job of ferrying President Trump. Cintron no longer drives the president but his service to the Trump Organization allegedly continues as a member of its security staff.

A representative for the Trump Organization insisted on anonymity to relay comment on the suit.

“Mr. Cintron was at all times paid generously and in accordance with the law,” the representative said. “Once the facts come out we expect to be fully vindicated in court.”

For the last eight years, according to the complaint, Cintron has been earning $75,000 a year. This is up $7,000 from Cintron's last raise in 2006, but the driver disputes that the 2010 salary was actually a raise since it came at the expense of his health insurance. By paying Cintron a little more, the Trump Organization allegedly saved itself $17,866.08 per year in premiums.

The first page of Cintron's 14-page lawsuit is rife with indignation. "In an utterly callous display of unwarranted privilege and entitlement and without even a minimal sense of noblesse oblige President Donald Trump has, through the defendant entities, exploited and denied significant wages to his own longstanding personal driver," it states.

Later the complaint says: "President Trump's further callousness and cupidity is further demonstrated by the fact that while he is purportedly a billionaire, he has not given his personal driver a meaningful raise in over 12 years!"

Cintron's schedule at the Trump Organization has allegdly been a grueling one: five days a week, from approximately 7 a.m. “to whenever Donald Trump, his family or business associates no longer required his plaintiff’s services.” Typically this works out to at least a 50-hour week.

Because Trump required Cintron “to be ready ... at a moment's notice,” according to the complaint, the time in between trips could not be used for Cintron’s personal errands.

Cintron calculates that, on top of his regular pay, Trump should have paid him about $540 in overtime pay per week which is time and a half for 550 hours of uncompensated overtime per year for the past six years.

The driver's duties also allegedly involved running personal errands for his supervisor at the Trump Organization, Matthew Calamari, who used to be the president’s bodyguard.

Trump has also neglected to reimburse Cintron for accrued vacation time, accrued sick days and expenses, according to the complaint.

Cintron seeks damages under federal and New York labor law. Both the Trump Organization and Trump Tower Commercial LLC are named as defendants.

Having intervened in federal proceedings involving Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, the Trump Organization is represented by Law Offices of Alan S. Futerfas.

In 2015, Newsweek quoted another personal driver of Trump’s, Eddie Diaz, as saying that the real estate mogul insisted on being chauffered in American cars. Diaz also reportedly said that he and his passenger ate together regularly, with Trump only footing the bill “once in a while.”

The Secret Service took up residence inside Trump Tower in late 2015 but had to relocate to a trailer just outside a midtown skyscraper in August 2017 after a lease agreement with the Trump Organization fell apart.

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Categories / Employment, Government

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