Thursday, February 10, 2011

Metallica: Lars Ulrich sued by former aide

A Sausalito, California man who worked as a personal assistant to Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich has filed a lawsuit claiming years of unpaid overtime.

The Marin Independent Journal reports Steven Wiig, 38, is seeking unspecified damages for alleged state and federal labor violations, breach of oral contract and continuing wages, according to the suit in Marin Superior Court. The lawsuit names Ulrich and Team Tours, a Burbank company that issued Wiig's paychecks, as defendants.

A case management conference is set for June 24 before Judge Lynn Duryee.

Wiig said he was a "non-exempt" employee from 2001 to 2009, working at Ulrich's home and studio in Marin and going on Metallica's worldwide tours. Wiig says he worked as Ulrich's chauffeur, managed his art collection, arranged scheduling and performed numerous other tasks and errands on request.

Wiig claims he worked up to 70 hours a week while Ulrich was in Marin and up to 80 hours a week while Metallica was on tour.

"Wiig was essentially on call twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week," his Los Angeles-based lawyers, Alan Harris and David Zelenski, said in the complaint.

Read comments by Ulrich’s lawyer, and more, at the Marin Independent Journal here.

Metallica Metallica

Metallica – Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
Rock In Rio – Madrid, SP – June 14, 2010


See also:

Metallica: Surf’s Up for Kirk Hammett in Hawaii
Metallica to start work on new album in the Spring
Metallica talk about Big 4 Festival
Metallica: The Big 4 announce single US date