Trump's Personal Driver for 25 Years Sues for Unpaid Overtime
Source: Bloomberg
Donald Trumps personal driver for more than 25 years says the billionaire real estate developer didnt pay him overtime and raised his salary twice in 15 years, clawing back the second raise by cutting off his health benefits.
Noel Cintron, who is listed in public records as a registered Republican, sued the Trump Organization for about 3,300 hours of overtime that he says he worked in the past six years. Hes not allowed to sue for overtime prior to that due to the statute of limitations.
In an utterly callous display of unwarranted privilege and entitlement and without even a minimal sense of noblesse oblige, Trump and his businesses exploited the driver, Cintron says in the complaint.
Cintron says he was required to be on duty for Trump starting at 7 a.m. each day until whenever Trump, his family or business associates no longer required his services. He worked as long as 55 hours per week, but was paid a fixed salary of $62,700 in 2003, $68,000 in 2006, and $75,000 in 2010, according to the complaint.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-09/trump-s-personal-driver-for-25-years-sues-for-unpaid-overtime?cmpid%3D=socialflow-twitter-politics&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_content=politics
Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)bucolic_frolic
(42,672 posts)MAGAt MAGA man! Total disregard for working people
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)And with a big axe to grind, that could be very bad for Turd.
MBS
(9,688 posts)sdfernando
(4,896 posts)but I'm 100% sure he was required to sign and NDA just like all the rest of the suckers that work for him. Not sure how that will play out in this law suit.
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)And there has no doubt been a LOT of illegal activity.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)but maybe not?
The things he knows may not be about "illegal activities." It's just the who and when that he may know, to help connect dots.
Trump had a mtg on a certain date. Chauffeur may recall taking him there...and who was with him. And who was waiting for him. How long the meeting lasted and where it was.
Things like that.
I wonder if there's a driver log? Hmmmm. Just his time cards, tho, probably.
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)lunatica
(53,410 posts)Leghorn21
(13,520 posts)days, too!!!!!!! Between the driver and the bodyguard, surely there is a wealth of nasty, damning, delicious information to be found...YUMMY!!!
Crutchez_CuiBono
(7,725 posts)The insurance part sucked. He has a right to redress if he feels wronged under the law.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,276 posts)and taking his insurance away to offset his "raise" is just heinous.
MGKrebs
(8,138 posts)If he had an employment contract that specified those working hours/conditions, I would think he would have a tough sell.
I once had a contract (in Georgia) that specified a normal 45 hour week.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,276 posts)under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Whether he had a contract doesn't determine whether he's exempt. https://www.dol.gov/whd/overtime/NPRM2015Archive/faq.pdf
MGKrebs
(8,138 posts)Administrative Exemptions
To qualify for the administrative employee exemption, all of the following tests must be met:
The employee must be compensated on a salary or fee basis (as defined in the regulations) at a rate not
less than $455* per week;
The employees primary duty must be the performance of office or non-manual work directly related to
the management or general business operations of the employer or the employers customers; and
The employees primary duty includes the exercise of discretion and independent judgment with respect
to matters of significance
Not sure. But good luck to him anyway.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,276 posts)he doesn't make administrative decisions, and doesn't exercise independent judgment. It's basically manual labor.
Pacifist Patriot
(24,647 posts)No way he passes any of the threshholds for being classified as exempt.
Bengus81
(6,907 posts)This is a BS trick used more and more by employers to screw over workers. Bet he can't win this and should never agreed to a set salary seeing how his hours could vary by a lot each week.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,276 posts)Not even close. He doesn't meet any of the criteria; agreeing to a set salary doesn't make any difference.
spooky3
(34,302 posts)corporate employee, but instead an employee of DT the individual and that FLSA does not apply.
rocktivity
(44,555 posts)cooks, or full-time babysitters are covered...as non-exempt...if:their cash wages from one employer in calendar year 2010 are at least $1,700 (this calendar year threshold is adjusted by the Social Security Administration each year); or
they work a total of more than 8 hours a week for one or more employers."
https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/hrg.htm
rocktivity
spooky3
(34,302 posts)lunatica
(53,410 posts)So he deserves overtime. And he seems to have worked for it in a real job.
turbinetree
(24,632 posts)And you still drove him around over in Atlantic City NJ when he was stiffing people (contractors) that were paying there employees for health care .....................
Demit
(11,238 posts)Would you?
catbyte
(34,170 posts)staying with an employer who never gave me a raise. Twice in 15 years & the second raise came at the cost of his health insurance. Actually, I'm surprised he had health insurance in the first place.
turbinetree
(24,632 posts)equitable wage and health care benefits, I provide a service................for my work to make someone else or corporation rich off my services.......................without my services they have nothing and they can go find someone else to abuse.................
dalton99a
(81,065 posts)Capperdan
(490 posts)Silver spoons all of them
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,276 posts)LudwigPastorius
(8,944 posts)...but, we all already knew that.
Chalco
(1,301 posts)SWBTATTReg
(21,859 posts)nothing except a dark black void where his soul should be. Pathetic.
I know some remarked about what a good wage it was, but remember, this is NYC...try and make a living given what he was paid?
Yeah, I would pay to hear his stories and dirt...
Sneederbunk
(14,207 posts)Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)Before it was known how truly horrible a human being he is.
I don't blame a working man for taking a legal job that pays well and has benefits for himself & his family.
But he has bent over backwards at trying to get paid his O.T., looks like. I wouldn't have let it go that long....unless he couldn't get other employment that paid the same. Depends a lot on his age, and I suspect there aren't a lot of chauffeur jobs.
LudwigPastorius
(8,944 posts)I'm not saying that this guy shouldn't get the money owed him, he definitely should.
However, Trump has been a crook and all around waste of protoplasm for well over 30 years. Back then, a national magazine (Spy) used to do stories on what a piece of crap he was.
Heck, I knew it and I wasn't living in Manhattan back then. I was just a kid working in a bookstore in Texas..
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)I don't fault anyone for taking a job like that. Sounds like a good job. A steady, good paying job for a wheeler dealer. ALL the wheeler dealers operate under the table.
But NOW we know just how corrupt and treasonous and mean he is. What we know now is different from what we knew about him then.
LudwigPastorius
(8,944 posts)OK, don't believe it, but there are plenty of people who knew what Trump was about long before he became president.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)I knew he was egotistical, a philanderer, a NY wheeler/dealer who filed bankruptcies. I did not know he would be the type of person to molest women, cage children, lie every time he opened his mouth about even inconsequential things, that his mentor had connections to the mob, that he sympathized with white supremacists and may have been one himself, etc.
I think a lot of people, including many on tv, including some Democrats, who had known him for years, were surprised by the changes in him, or the revelations, at Trump the birther, Trump the candidate, Trump the Obama-hater.
catsudon
(839 posts)was a friend of ivanka...
Raven123
(4,714 posts)Obvious point that the reason Trump is rich is not due to a marvelous business acumen, but due to his ability to convince others to work for him while never paying them fairly. It is the same tactic he used to convince voters. The sad thing is it took his driver over 20 years to figure it out. Trump voters ..... oh well.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)When you don't pay the little guys, you get their money to spend on something for YOURSELF! OPM! It's great!
(sarcasm)
zentrum
(9,865 posts)
will even be incensed. They're working two jobs, as much hours as this driver, or more, but making 30K or 40K. So his salary looks good to them.
Sophia4
(3,515 posts)as well as other New York costs.
And even if you earn $30 per hour, just that pay level does not exempt you from certain other related wage laws.
Compared to workers in other countries, American workers are not doing well when it comes to wage and hours protections among other protections.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)I know paralegals in lower COL areas making more than that.
$75k, for someone who has been doing the same job for many years, isn't too much in that area.
catbyte
(34,170 posts)overtime? Most salaried employees--which it sounds like he was--work over 40 hours/week. I feel for him, but I'm wondering what the legalities are. I don't think personal drivers are under the same time/safety restrictions that, say, airline pilots are under.
Sophia4
(3,515 posts)an exempt employee? Your boss could be wrong about your wage and hour status. The law defines who is or is not an hourly employee or a salaried employee.
We need much better laws on employment issues. It is time to completely revise them.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)I would think a driver would get O.T.
One of the tests for being exempt is that you have some supervisory capacity over other workers. Another test is if your job answers to or is supervised by someone else.
I was a paralegal and got paid a salary and O.T. Paralegals are NOT exempt from getting O.T., unless they are supervisors.
It has nothing to do with whether you get paid by the hr or salary. Salaries, after all, are also paid by the hour...it' just math. If you get a salary but can't take off time when you want, without it affecting your salary...you are really paid for each hour you work. If you get a salary & two weeks' vacation, but you take an extra day off...your salary will be cut for that one day or your benefits will be affected.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,276 posts)for an exempt employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Some employers try to get around the FLSA by designating an employee as salaried, but it doesn't work if the person wasn't an office worker who had managerial duties or the power to make independent, discretionary decisions. A driver is more like a manual laborer than an office manager even if he's paid a "salary" instead of an hourly wage.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)I'm NOT surprised.
Only fools think that Trump has the best interests of ordinary Americans at heart. Truth is, if you're not one of the rich & powerful, you're just one of the unimportant masses.
$75k for his job is not that much for that high-cost of living area. AND they cut his health benefits? That's cold.
I hope he has quit his job. Because if he hasn't, he'll be fired.
riversedge
(69,721 posts)Hoyt
(54,770 posts)Ohioboy
(3,222 posts)TexasBushwhacker
(20,043 posts)and became wealthy overnight, one thing I would do is OVERPAY the people I hired to do the drudgery I don't care to do. I'm not talking about lawyers and accountants. They are already well compensated. But why wouldn't you pay your maid, driver, gardener and/or cook a very generous wage? If they're doing a good job for you, why not make them happy and comfortable with a generous wage? I just don't understand greed.
JDC
(10,081 posts)marble falls
(56,358 posts)to say about him, his wife or their children?
keithbvadu2
(36,362 posts)There are job openings at Mar a Lago. They could use some American workers.
rocktivity
(44,555 posts)Last edited Tue Jul 10, 2018, 10:58 AM - Edit history (4)
or executive nature:
https://www.dol.gov/whd/overtime/fs17a_overview.htm
he was eligible for overtime pay regardless of the size of his salary:
https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/hrg.htm
rocktivity
Judi Lynn
(160,217 posts)Trump's driver for 20 years alleges that the president never paid him overtime for working nights, weekends, and holidays.
Originally posted on July 9, 2018, at 1:46 p.m.
Updated on July 9, 2018, at 1:59 p.m.
Blake Montgomery
BuzzFeed News Reporter
Donald Trump's chauffeur of more than 25 years has filed a lawsuit alleging that he was never paid nearly $175,000 in overtime wages.
Noel Citron, who was Trump's driver until the Secret Service took over the role in 2016, alleges the president didn't pay him overtime wages for the past six years, a violation of state and federal labor laws.
Cintron's attorney, Larry Hutcher, called it an utterly callous display of unwarranted privilege and entitlement.
Cintron worked 550 hours of overtime every year nights, weekends, holidays driving Trump, members of the Trump family and their business associates, according to the lawsuit, which describes his schedule as running "from 7 am to whenever Donald Trump, his family or business associates no longer required Plaintiffs services."
More:
https://www.buzzfeed.com/blakemontgomery/trump-driver-lawsuit?utm_term=.orVnLlMeX#.em8a0Nd91
rlegro
(338 posts)"Are there not workhouses for the poor?"