Officials in California have fined Michael Jackson the best part of $170,000 and ordered employees to stop working at his Neverland Ranch after finding that staff have not been paid since December, and that workers' compensation insurance has lapsed. As previously reported, the ranch has started going to pot ever since Jacko buggered off to Bahrain after last year's child abuse trial. Several employees reported Jackson to the California State Labour Commission over the unpaid wages, and it is the investigations that followed that unearthed both the scale of monies owed and the lapses in insurance payments.
The California Department Of Industrial Relations has ordered Jacko to pay his employees their back wages, estimated to be about $306,000, by next week, as well as a $100,000 fine as a penalty for defaulting on wage payments, and a $69,000 fine for failing to ensure his employees are insured. The authorities have told Neverland staff not to return to the ranch until Jacko's insurance is reinstated, adding that they will "pursue appropriate legal action" if Jackson doesn't respond to their demands within the week.
Dean Fryer of the California Department Of Industrial Relations has told CNN that he is investigating 47 complaints of unpaid wages from Neverland employees, adding that: "There have been ongoing problems with wages at Neverland, but we were surprised the ranch would let its workers' comp policy lapse as well. We were tipped by an employee filing a wage claim against the ranch for unpaid wages. We were told that the ranch had no workers' compensation coverage. We looked into our data bases and found that their policy lapsed January 10, and we moved forward to ensure the protection of employees by issuing a 'stop order.'"
There has been no official comment from Jackson's people relating to the orders, although it is known that his accountants have advised the ranch's employees that they should not report for work until the insurance matters have been resolved.
Perhaps Jacko and new best friend Sheik Abdullah bin Hamad Al Khalifa could organise a charity single to support the unpaid employees of Neverland.