Strummer Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 Former WWE performer Dawn Marie Psaltis, 35, has filed a complaint against World Wrestling Entertainment with the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission), claiming wrongful termination. Dawn Marie claims she was released from her contract because she became pregnant. All Dawn Marie wants is to be paid for the remainder of her WWE contract, which had less than one year remaining on it at the time she was released by World Wrestling Entertainment in July of 2005. The reason given for her release from WWE management was, "Creative had no ideas for her." Dawn Marie had been in good standing with the company with a track record of always being on time and fulfilling whatever duties they asked her to do. Dawn Marie gave birth to her first child, a boy, which she named Matthew, on December 20, 2005. Since being terminated from WWE, Dawn Marie has made two public appearances for wrestling-related events. She made an appearance at the Retroslam Convention in New Jersey in October. She also made an appearance at Hardcore Homecoming, holding the key for the main-event steel cage match. Dawn Marie also accepted a booking in which she would actually wrestle in a match. She and Jackie Gayda were supposed to be teaming up to take on Traci Brooks and Lollipop in tag action, for an indy event on April 26th. However, Dawn Marie later changed her mind and had to back out of the match. Dawn believed four months would not be enough time to get back into shape for the match due to the incredible amount of weight she gained from her pregnancy. Dawn Marie vowed that she will work for the promotion sometime down the road. Dawn Marie also has an open invitation from TNA president Dixie Carter to join TNA should she ever choose to. Pro Wrestling Torch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 I was wondering how long "creative has nothing for you" would fly as an excuse to get out of paying people's contracts. Wasn't it Meltz who pointed out that WWE will do everything in their power to make the talent live up to their end of a contract and everything in their power to make sure they don't have to live up to theirs. Christy Hemme should file a lawsuit too, there had to be something in the Diva Search contract that specified the terms for the winner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest teke184 Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 I was wondering how long "creative has nothing for you" would fly as an excuse to get out of paying people's contracts. Wasn't it Meltz who pointed out that WWE will do everything in their power to make the talent live up to their end of a contract and everything in their power to make sure they don't have to live up to theirs. Christy Hemme should file a lawsuit too, there had to be something in the Diva Search contract that specified the terms for the winner. I'm sure it was the same set of legalities that went into Puder's contract. IIRC, it was something like "One Million Dollar Contract!!!!!!*" With the "*" standing for: "One million dollars is the total value of the contract if renewed by World Wrestling Entertainment for each of the three years in question. World Wrestling Entertainment reserves the right to nullify said contract at the end of each year in question." At least, that's what I think it said whenever Meltz listed out what he knew about the Tough Enough contracts some time back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 They can probably technically get away with firing Dawn Marie for getting pregnant. They'll probably argue that she was hired based on her looks and that by getting pregnant violates some part of her contract. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest SweetMama Scaat Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 No they cant. The same shit happened with Hunter TYlo and Melrose Place back in the day. Im pretty sure she won. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjh Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 Good for her. If more people stood up for themselves like Dawn Marie WWE wouldn't get away with treating their employees, sorry I mean independent contractors, like pieces of meat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Cam Chaos Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 They can probably technically get away with firing Dawn Marie for getting pregnant. They'll probably argue that she was hired based on her looks and that by getting pregnant violates some part of her contract.Do you honestly think anyone would side with WWE on that? "Well, we don't believe in maternity leave and we didn't have anything planned for her, so we fired her while she was up the duff." Come on man, use your loaf, no judge in their right mind would say "I see no problem with you firing a woman while she's pregnant simply because you couldn't find anything for her to do". Plus I think any kind of terms like that would be instantly disgregarded on the grounds they are oppressive and that work conditions shouldn't affect your personal life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 They get away with a lot for the whole independent contractor thing. It essentially allows them to just pay their employees and not have to provide any kind of benefits package. And there's no knowing when they actually stopped paying her. The pay people for 90 days after they're officially fired and she could've had the baby in that period of time. They release injured wrestlers too and you can't do that at a normal place of employment either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Cam Chaos Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 There's a difference between being injured and pregnant. I can't imagine anyone getting away with writing in something like "Should the performer become pregnant at any time, the WWE reserves the right to release her as it may affect her marketability". That wouldn't fly with any lawyer or judge especially since they didn't even find out if it had negatively affected her marketability as they fired her before she came back to work. Besides she hadn't even got back to work and they were telling her they had nothing for her... they'd have had the entire time while she was away to think something up so that's not even a fair reason for dismissal. I can see this blowing up in WWE's faces if they don't try settle the matter privately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 They've used creative as an all encompassing reason to throw people out the door for years now. I don't think they even bother coming up with any other reason these days. And the injury/pregnant comparision is valid as it's examples of how they circumvent employee rights in the United States. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 To be honest, most of the people that leave don't sue. I can't think of another example of them being sued for wrongful termination. They may have been getting away with it but I think that might be because no one has really pursued legal action before. Dawn Marie's case may go a long way in determining how they let go of people in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHawk Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 I always wondered how "Creative has nothing to do for you" was a valid excuse anyway. Um...how about having them wrestle until you come up with something? Problem solved. Anyway, I'm pretty sure there are federal laws that prevent WWE from firing a pregnant woman, so how much of a case does WWE really have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 Actually the way the WWF goes about using contracts essentially strips them of all their rights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest SweetMama Scaat Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 As an aside I enjoy Cams british slang "Use you loaf and dont get up the duff" Thats like a gerbil on a wheel, baby bubba. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 What might screw Dawn over is the independent contractor status pretty much gives the WWE the right to do whatever they want. My friend's the same way (he's an actual building contractor, what the term's meant to cover) and if the builder he works for decides to drop him because he doesn't like the way he laid the shingles on the roof, there's not much he can do unless it's spelled out in the contract. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dangerous A Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 Basically, Dawn has to prove WWE fired her BECAUSE of her pregnancy. If she can prove that, she'll come out on top. My thing is she is only asking for the amount of what was left on her contract. I'm banking she is probrably owed less than $50,000, which in WWE land is chump change. They should just pay her and be done with it. If she lawyers up or gets a women's rights lawyers to start looking into WWE's "independent contractor" contracts, a hornet's nest may be stirred up and we'll have to deal with Vince taking out his aggressions on this whole thing through some kind of storyline on TV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Cam Chaos Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 I honestly don't think Vince could get any lower than that cringe worthy skit where he forced Trish to strip. I think between "They fired me because I was on maternity leave" and "They fired me because their creative department had nothing for me", a judge will likely crucify the alleged creative department before they disregard a new and now unemployed mother's claim of unfair dismissal. Also given that WWE's legal department folded in regards to their Brock lawsuit I can actually see Dawn receiving an out of court settlement rather than dragging WWE's name further into the muck after the Hassan/UT "terrorist" skit, the tasteless lowrider/Orton/UT sketch less than a week after Eddie's death and other failed Crash TV endeavours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest savagerulz Posted January 13, 2006 Report Share Posted January 13, 2006 Christy Hemme should file a lawsuit too, there had to be something in the Diva Search contract that specified the terms for the winner.She asked for her walking papers. And as far as "her personal life," that's a trade-off Dawn chose to make in exchange for getting paid to look hot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted January 13, 2006 Report Share Posted January 13, 2006 Christy asked for her walking papers? Thats different from everything I've read about her situation. They tried to make her quit and when she didn't they released her anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest savagerulz Posted January 13, 2006 Report Share Posted January 13, 2006 I know it's a different situation but what is the policy with strippers, Broadway dancers, etc if they get pregnant? Seriously, I'm asking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted January 13, 2006 Report Share Posted January 13, 2006 Strippers don't have contracts like WWE employees do, so it's no comparision. Also, I think broadway dancers are unionized too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Cam Chaos Posted January 13, 2006 Report Share Posted January 13, 2006 Same here. I heard they sent her down to OVW hoping she'd be pissed about going to the minors but ended up actually being pleased to get more training. Then when they realised they couldn't make her leave, they released her. Savagerulz, if a modelling agency fired someone under contract to them simply for becoming pregnant, they'd likely be open to being sued sued for wrongful dismissal also even if they are only being paid to look hot. Just because WWE uses independent contractors doesn't mean that the rules of business don't apply, especially since there is plenty of evidence she complied with virtually everything asked of her, from kissing women to pretending to hump old men to death, and did her job to the best of her abilities when she was on the active roster. Unless it was written into her contract that they reserved the right to fire her if she didn't return to work within a certain time frame or if she got pregnant I think she actually is in with a good chance of winning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted January 13, 2006 Report Share Posted January 13, 2006 Right. I'm sure they will attempt to discredit her by making her appear difficult to work with, but they'll have to dig deep for examples. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest savagerulz Posted January 13, 2006 Report Share Posted January 13, 2006 Same here. I heard they sent her down to OVW hoping she'd be pissed about going to the minors but ended up actually being pleased to get more training. Then when they realised they couldn't make her leave, they released her. Because she was in Playboy and volunteered to improve as a wrestler in OVW she wanted more money that what they were offering so she walked. That's how I remember it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Cam Chaos Posted January 13, 2006 Report Share Posted January 13, 2006 It would have been impossible for her to ask for more money, she'd signed a 4 year contract that was set at 250Gs a year. Without getting out of her old contract first somehow she'd have had no leverage whatsoever to ask for more money in the first place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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