Singer Halsey is being sued by a former nanny who claims she was “illegally” fired after taking leave for a medical procedure.
According to legal documents, obtained by The Blast, a woman named Ashley Funches filed a lawsuit against the ‘Without Me’ singer for Disability Discrimination and Retaliation after alleging she was fired for taking time off for an emergency medical procedure. The woman — who is suing Halsey and her company — says she was hired in 2021 as a “live-in personal attendant for her newborn child.”
At the time, the woman says she was paid by “Halsey Music” every two weeks based on an annual salary. She says the job included “caring for the child, preparing meals, cleaning, laundry, cleaning breast pump materials, organizing the nursery, and running errands as needed.” The nanny claims that during the weeks to follow she “worked around the clock” on consecutive days with “little to no day of rest.”
Halsey’s Nanny Claims She Was Fired After Taking ‘Medical’ Leave From Work
In the filing, the nanny says she started complaining about the singer’s failure to pay overtime wages for the long hours, and in response to the complaints was given an extra $5000 for the hard work. The problem is…the nanny says she was never given an explanation for the lump sum or what it would be compensation for in return.
Fast forward to March 16, 2022, Funches says she sent Halsey a text message saying she needed to take a leave of absence from work to “undergo a medical procedure” that would cause her to miss a few days. In the lawsuit, the nanny claims “a few days later, without any warning or response to (the nanny) she was “terminated” by the singer.
Now, the nanny is saying the firing was in retaliation for complaining about the overtime wages and “violation of law” based on her disability and inability to work.
Halsey’s Nanny Says She Was Fired Over ‘Discrimination’
“As a direct and proximate cause of the aforementioned violations, (the nanny) has suffered, and continues to suffer, substantial losses related to the use and enjoyment of such wages and lost interest in such wages,” the lawsuit states. Adding, the situation and firing were “deliberate, cold, callous, fraudulent, and intentional manner in order to injure and damage (the nanny) with a conscious disregard of her rights.”
An exact amount of damages is not listed in the documents, but the nanny filed a discrimination complaint with the California Department of Fair Employment & Housing.
In 2021, Halsey gave birth to a baby boy, Ender Ridley Aydin, with her partner Alev Aydin. On July 14, the singer shared two photos of the baby including a black and white photo of her cradling her newborn in the hospital bed with Aydin by her side. “Gratitude. For the most ‘rare’ and euphoric birth. Powered by love,” she captioned the picture. The second photo was her breastfeeding the little guy.
Halsey Opens Up About Pregnancy, Giving Birth To Baby Boy
The singer opened up about the pregnancy in the months prior to the birth, telling Allure, “When this pregnancy started, I was like, ‘You’re going to do yoga and eat flaxseed. You’re going to use essential oils and hypnobirth and meditate and f–king journal every single day.”
Adding, “I have done none of those things. Zero. None. I eat cookies and had a bagel every single day for the first five months of my pregnancy.”
At this point, Halsey has not responded to the allegations.
