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Cher wins wrongful termination lawsuit

Associated Press
Saturday September 22, 2001

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A jury found in favor of Cher on Friday, dismissing a lawsuit by an accountant who said he lost his job and was harassed for noting labor violations during construction of the entertainer’s Malibu mansion 

Salvatore Sampino had accused Cher of wrongful termination, retaliation, sexual harassment, defamation, unfair competition, negligence and unpaid wages. He was seeking $100,000 in lost wages and $150,000 in emotional distress. 

He said he was forced to quit his job in May 2000 because of harassment after he brought attention to the labor violations. Sampino, who is homosexual, said his co-workers made offensive comments about his sexual orientation and that it got worse after he complained about it. 

He also said in his lawsuit that undocumented day laborers were hired to work on Cher’s home and were paid in cash, with no workers’ compensation benefits or overtime. 

Cher insisted that Sampino never actually worked for her but for a subcontractor, Artemis Design and Consulting, and that she had nothing to do with his leaving his job. 

“I’m really happy with the verdict,” the 55-year-old entertainer, who signed autographs for jurors after the trial, said outside court. “The only thing I can tell you for sure was that (Sampino) never worked for me.” 

Sampino, 40, complained that jurors, who deliberated for one day, didn’t consider all the facts of what he indicated was a complicated case. 

“There were a lot of facts, a lot of testimony. I think what the jury said is, ‘Well, we don’t believe any of this.”’