A former nanny for Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudeikis who alleges Sudeikis wrongfully terminated her in 2022 actually resigned of her own accord, the actress states in new court papers.
Plaintiff Ericka Genaro alleges in her Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit that her anxiety became great after Wilde, 39, moved out of the home that she shared with Sudeikis, 47, and the former couple’s two children because it dramatically increased Genaro’s caretaker role in the children’s lives.
Genaro alleges discrimination, retaliation and failure to accommodate and engage in the interactive process. But in a sworn declaration submitted Friday with Judge Maureen Duffy-Lewis in support of the former couple’s bid to force the dispute into arbitration, Wilde says Genaro resigned after the actors refused to bow to the nanny’s salary demands.
According to Wilde, Genaro’s starting annual salary was $52,000, plus housing, then her pay was increased to $62,000 in October 2019 and by the end of 2020 it was hiked to $100,000 before taxes with a $38,000 bonus. But in January 2021, Genaro asked to be paid $100,000 after taxes, Wilde says.
“When Sudeikis and I did not accept Genaro’s shocking financial demands, she quit,” Wilde says. “Genaro sent a letter of resignation email stating in part, ` love your family dearly,’ and `I wish you both an abundance of love and peace.”’
Genaro’s resignation email did not mention any alleged discrimination, retaliation or failure to accommodate and engage in the interactive process as she now claims, Wilde says.
Wilde says that after her resignation, Genaro refused to leave the actors’ London residence until the police told her to.
“Sudeikis and I put Genaro up in a five-star hotel in London, the Rosewood Hotel, where she stayed at our expense along with her dog for weeks,” Wilde says.
After Genaro finally agreed to leave the hotel, Sudeikis and Wilde paid for other luxury accommodations for Genaro and her dog, the nanny’s travel expenses, her packing and shipping of her personal belongings, her health insurance and other expenses, according to Wilde.
In their motion to compel arbitration, the actors’ attorneys state that Genaro contractually agreed that any disputes related to her employment would be resolved in binding arbitration in New York state when she was hired in November 2018. The lawyers also maintain that Genaro promised to keep confidential what she learned about the family, but she sued in “utter disregard” of her obligation to arbitrate disputes and her confidentiality obligations, the former couple’s attorneys state in their court papers.
“When the true facts are told, Genaro’s complaint will be understood for exactly what it is, i.e., the culmination of a two-year extortion scheme by which Genaro has been terrorizing Sudeikis, Wilde and their two young children, threatening to level false and scurrilous accusations against the former couple and warning that she can be ruthless unless they capitulate to her exorbitant demands for money,” the actors’ attorneys state.
When the nanny was hired, Wilde, Sudeikis and Sudeikis’ business managers at ML Management LLC did not know of “Genaro’s troubling past criminal record, which they only learned of after Genaro began trying to get publicity for herself and undeserved money from defendants,” the former couple’s lawyer further state in their court papers.
In her suit filed Feb. 14, Genaro says she and the actors entered group therapy and that the therapist referred the plaintiff to an osteopath who suggested she have temporary “radio silence” from everyone. The therapist told Sudeikis about the osteopath’s recommendation to Genaro, according to the plaintiff’s court papers.
“In other words, plaintiff needed a three-day medical leave of absence because of her mental health — aka a stress leave,” the suit states.
When Genaro objected after Sudeikis demanded to talk to her not long after the osteopath’s recommendation, he fired her, according to Genaro’s suit. Genaro further contends she received no subsequent support from Wilde and that the actress betrayed a confidence by revealing to Sudeikis what the plaintiff had told the actress about her anxiety regarding the couple’s breakup.
Genaro believes she lost her job because she suffered from anxiety and depression and sought a brief leave to deal with both, her court papers state.