There’s a mess brewing between LaKeith Stanfield, his wife Kasmere Trice, and a member of their support staff, who apparently had the couple served with legal papers on Thursday (Feb. 1) following a recent trip to the Big Apple.

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, states that Stanfield and his wife, Kasmere Trice Stanfield, violated numerous labor code violations during an October 2023 trip. The lawsuit states that the couple hired Monica Sawyer as a $500-a-day travel nanny for their New York City trip with their infant. During the 8-day trip, Sawyer alleges that she barely had time to eat, sleep, or shower because of the constant requests from Stanfield and his wife. She claims that the Oscar-nominated actor and his model wife have yet to pay her for the harrowing trip.

PEOPLE reports that Monica Sawyer, who worked as a nanny for the couple, is suing them for unpaid wages and violating several labor laws during the trip to NYC where she was hired to care for their daughter. The former nanny alleges she was supposed to receive $500 per diem during the eight-day trip, in return for round-the-clock supervision of their infant daughter, whom the duo welcomed in July 2023. ​​

“This is a stunning case of elitism by two celebrities who can clearly afford to pay Ms. Sawyer. They could have just shown her even a modicum of respect and humanity and merely paid her for the time she worked and all this would be moot,” Sawyer’s lawyer, Ron Zambrano, said in a statement as reported by The Daily Beast. “But given their failure to pay and dismissive attitudes, we’re now forced to seek legal remedies for Ms. Sawyer, and the case is clear.”

“Pay her what she is owed now or we’re very confident a jury will find in our favor, and they’ll just pay more,” he added.

According to Sawyer’s suit, the couple has not relinquished payment to her for the job that occurred from October 31 to November 7.

The plaintiff also said she was mostly left alone with the child during the trip, while Trice would simply do daily check-ins only to provide specific instructions on how to care for the child. Additionally, Sawyer claims she was not allowed for breaks to even eat or use the restroom. 

Sawyer contends they had all reached a middle ground on Nov. 4 when she pleaded for a four-hour break each day during the remainder of the trip. While she said Stanfield and Trice agreed, her breaks weren’t breaks at all as she constantly fielded questions from them during her time off.

While gearing up to return to Los Angeles, things went awry when Trice reportedly informed the nanny that the infant would be in her total care during their route to the airport and on their flight. Sawyer expressed her discomfort with that arrangement, but she said Trice was resistant to change her mind. "That's the role of the travel nanny," Sawyer recounted Trice saying while adding that previous nannies hadn't made a fuss about complying in the past.

The ordeal led to Trice allegedly canceling Sawyer's flight, leaving her in New York City to fend for herself to get back home to California.

Reps for Stanfield and his wife have yet to make a public statement about the lawsuit or the validity of the charges leveled against them.