Three former security guards claim Britney Spears owes them overtime back pay, according to the Associated Press. A judge ruled that the trio must settle the dispute with the embattled pop princess through arbitration, according to People.
Silas Dukes, Lonnie DeShawn Jones and Randy Jones allege in their lawsuit, filed this March, that two of Spears’ companies — Britney Brands Inc. and Britney Touring Inc. — hired them to provide security for the 24-year old singer and her home. They were to be paid a salary of $2,400-3,350 a week.
Not bad for roughing people up and hanging out with a cute chick. In any case, Stephen Madoni, an attorney representing the trio, plans to appeal the order to arbitrate, saying that the ruling could put his clients at a disadvantage, given that two of three hearings will be held in New York instead of California, which has more favorable laws.
Britney Brands Inc. and Britney Touring Inc. are incorporated in both New York and California. Madoni further asserted that the three guards never agreed to arbitrate wage claims, and that arbitration would strip court protections for the men.
Attorney William J. Briggs II, who represents Spears’s companies, said the original agreement between the guards and the companies called for wage disputes to be arbitrated. The lawyer did not comment on the plummeting stock price of another of Britney’s companies, Deadbeat Wigger Husbands LLC.