NEW YORK — Woody Allen’s former personal chef claims in a lawsuit that the filmmaker and his wife fired him because of his service in the U.S. Army Reserve and questions about his pay, then “rubbed salt on the wounds” by saying they didn’t like his cooking.
Allen and Soon-Yi Previn “simply decided that a military professional who wanted to be paid fairly was not a good fit to work in the Allen home,” private chef Hermie Fajardo said in a civil complaint filed Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan.
Allen and Previn knew Fajardo would need time off for military training exercises when they and their home manager hired him as their full-time chef in June 2024 at an annual salary of $85,000, the complaint said. But he was fired the following month, soon after returning from a training that lasted a day longer than expected, it said.
When Fajardo returned to work, “he was immediately met with instant hostility and obvious resentment by defendants,” according to the lengthy complaint.
At the time, Fajardo had been raising concerns about his pay — first that his employers weren’t properly withholding taxes or providing a paystub, then that they shortchanged him by $300, according to the complaint.
Allen, Previn and manager Pamela Steigmeyer are accused in the lawsuit of violating the federal Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act and New York labor law, as well as causing Fajardo humiliation, stress and a loss of earnings.
Representatives for Allen did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
Fajardo said he was hired after being showered with compliments following a meal of roasted chicken, pasta, chocolate cake and apple pie he prepared for the defendants and two guests. According to the complaint, it was only after Previn fired him and he hired a lawyer that he was told his cooking was not up to par, a claim Fajardo said was untrue.
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