Tracee Ellis Ross Being Sued by Former Employee for Overworking

Tracee Ellis Ross has some heavy allegations against her by a former employee. The Pattern founder is being sued by her ex-assistant for violating the California labor code law.

Samantha Wilkins is the accuser and claims she worked for Ross from November 2019 to July 2021. She initially was paid $25 hourly with overtime and meal breaks. Then states that a month after working for her she was on salary of making 70k a year and considered an exempt employee. This change did not require her to receive meal breaks or overtime.

In a recent statement, Ross increased her salary in September 2020 to 100k a year, but Wilkins says it was improper to be paid salary based instead of hourly.

In court documents obtained by Radar Online, the suit says, “defendants misclassified her as an exempt employee.” In November 2020, the actress and her company acknowledged her as a non-exempt employee. The former personal assistant says, “therefore, from December 19, 2019, to November 24, 2020, defendants misclassified Wilkins employment and treated her as a non-exempt employee.”

Wilkins is now accusing Ross of illegally paying her salary with a disregard of how many hours she was working, over time she wasn’t compensated for, and meals missed. She says that she worked over 40 hours in a week and was never compensated. She also says her schedule was typically over twelve hours a day during the full seven-day week.

The Blackish actress has yet to comment on the allegations and the suit is pending towards her and her company, Joy Hill Entertainment.