Howard Sterns longtime executive assistant has taken the shock jock and his wife Beth to court, accusing the couple of creating a hostile work environment inside their lavish Hamptons estate.
According to the Daily Caller, Leslie Kuhn has filed a lawsuit in New York state court alleging that Stern and his wife pressured her to relocate into their 20,000-square-foot Southampton residence, only to bury her under an ever-expanding list of duties. She claimed she was abruptly terminated less than two years after moving in, despite having reorganized and managed the household at Beth Sterns direction.
In her filing, Kuhn contends that her dismissal stemmed from a hostile work environment and enablement of that hostile work environment, immense pressures on the household created by irresponsible and untenable animal rescue and fostering operations occurring on-site, and massively disorganized and questionable business operations and accounting practices. The allegations paint a picture of a celebrity household run with little regard for basic workplace standards, even as the Sterns publicly promote their animal rescue efforts as a charitable cause.
Kuhn further alleged that a law firm representing Sterns production company, One Twelve, later presented her with a separation agreement containing a non-disclosure clause that appeared to have been backdated. She claimed the NDA was drafted to look as if it had been executed at the start of her employment, even though, she said, it was actually signed before she had even interviewed for the job.
According to the complaint, Kuhn insists that her supposed signature on the NDA is nothing more than her typewritten name in the same font style and size used to identify the parties names in the recitals of the agreement, raising serious questions about the documents validity. She is asking the court to declare the NDA unenforceable so she can fully disclose the details of her employment and speak openly about her experience working for the Sterns.
Kuhn also alleged that Beth Stern tasked her with supervising staff at the mansion, handling scheduling, payroll, and the day-to-day running of the residence. Those responsibilities, she said, extended to managing Beths animal rescue and fostering operation, which was based inside the couples home and, in her view, spiraled out of control.
While the legal documents do not elaborate on the allegedly untenable rescue conditions, Beth has publicly stated that more than 900 cats passed through the Stern home over a five-year span, TMZ reported. That staggering figure, combined with Kuhns claims of chaos and mismanagement, raises obvious concerns about oversight, accountability, and the treatment of staff in a high-profile, celebrity-run rescue effort.
The lawsuit does not specify the amount of damages Kuhn is seeking, leaving the financial stakes of the case unclear for now. Stern has not responded to TMZs request for comment as of publication, and until he does, the only detailed account of what happened inside his Southampton compound comes from a former aide who says she was pushed past the breaking point and then pressured into silence.
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