In 2016, Lisa Vanderpump started The Vanderpump Dog Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on rescuing dogs from unsafe conditions and rehabilitating them into Beverly Hills’ poshest pooches. However, according to a recent lawsuit filed by a former employee, the dogs at TVDF were getting treated better than the staff.
The Sun obtained court documents that show a wild court battle that has been raging on for nearly four years. A former employee named Eswin Rolando Bulux Yac, or simply Bulux, filed a lawsuit in 2020 and described the working conditions at Lisa’s charity to be terrible.
Missed breaks and sketchy wages
The Vanderpump Dog Foundation hired Bulux in 2017 as part of the cleaning crew, making $12.50 an hour. It sounds like honest work, but according to the lawsuit, the gig was a nightmare. He also claimed that he was under “constant pressure,” and forced to skip his legally mandated meal breaks.
The lawsuit read, “Plaintiff’s meals were interrupted when a task came up that Defendants wanted him to attend to. Each interrupted meal period is to be treated like a missed meal period and thus must be compensated as one hour of work time.”
Bulux also claimed that the foundation didn’t properly compensate him during his employment. He alleged that they didn’t calculate overtime properly or provide pay stubs. It’s hard to tell if someone’s underpaying you if they can’t even provide a wage statement.
According to the lawsuit, Bulux went to TVDF’s leadership to complain about the “intolerable work conditions.” Then, they retaliated. He said the management encouraged other team members to harass him and treat him poorly at work. Eventually, the situation became unbearable, so he quit.
Bulux filed his lawsuit in 2020. Vanderpump Dogs didn’t respond, so he won a judgment lien for $246,377 against the charity’s property. The Foundation didn’t like that.
Vanderpump Dogs bites back
The Vanderpump Dog Foundation is fighting back against Bulux’s four-year-old claims. They took the matter back to court and managed to have the judgment put on pause for the time being. They want the court to dismiss the case entirely in addition to compensation for legal fees.
Somehow, this isn’t the first time that the foundation has come under fire for questionable work conditions. Back in 2020, a dog groomer sued Vanderpump Dogs for sexual harassment. She claimed that her manager harassed her and created “intolerable work conditions.” Eventually, the former employee dropped her case.
In Bulux’s situation, Vanderpump Dogs claimed they weren’t properly served court documents for the lawsuit. John Sessa (yes, the guy from Puppygate) provided a statement to the outlet, claiming that they didn’t know about the lawsuit, which is why Bulux won.
He said, “This is a lawsuit that was filed 4 years ago in 2020. It did indeed receive a default judgment, as all notices were sent to a random address in another city that had no connection to the Foundation.”
John continued, “The Foundation is proud of the good it has done for the City and thousands of dogs around the world, and as a charity that consists largely of incredible volunteers, appreciates the hard work and dedication by its wonderful employees and loyal supporters.”
There’s a lot of finger-pointing happening here. Vanderpump Dog Foundation thinks it’s Bulux’s fault that he had a horrible experience working for them. Obviously, no one wants to admit to creating a horrible working environment. Either way, we’ll be watching for updates as more details emerge from the case.
TELL US – ARE YOU SURPRISED TO HEAR THESE COMPLAINTS AGAINST THE VANDERPUMP DOG FOUNDATION? DO YOU THINK THE COURT WILL CONTINUE TO HOLD THEM LIABLE?
