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Ex-GM Sues Crosby Theater
A former general manager accuses owners of Bing Crosby Theater in Spokane, Wash., of denying him overtime pay and firing him when he refused to participate in an alleged scheme to divert money owed on film rentals.
Photo: facebook.com/BingCrosbyTheater/
Michael Smith claims he did clerical and janitorial work, sold tickets and performed other manual labor “often for 12 hours a day, seven days a week” without overtime pay, according to the local Spokesman-Review.
He has sued Gerald and Patty Dicker, who bought the theatre in 2012, for lost wages, unpaid overtime and damages including emotional distress. Smith claims Gerald Dicker formed the nonprofit Friends of the Bing to, among other things, dodge film rental fees.
According to the complaint, Dicker directed Smith “to pay $8 of each $10 movie ticket to the Friends of the Bing as a production fee in order to avoid paying the film companies 50 percent of the gross ticket sales as required by contract,” according to the Spokesman-Review.
Smith also accuses Dicker of posting unauthorized performer videos online. He says he was fired in October 2015 when he refused to do so.