A woman fired from a French vineyard on an estate used by US film stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie is suing for unfair dismissal, her lawyer said Thursday. The woman had worked since 2002 as a secretary on the Miraval vineyard in southeastern France, on the grounds of the 17th chateau leased by the pair from 2008, and was fired in February 2010 after three months off sick. “She did not accept this dismissal which she considered wrongful,” and is seeking 80,000 euros in compensation ($114,000) at an employment tribunal, the woman’s lawyer Emmanuel Ludot told AFP. He said she asked not to be named. The woman was employed by a company working on the estate that forms part of Pitt and Jolie’s country home. Her case is due to be heard on June 7 and she will not speak publicly until then, Ludot said, playing down the showbiz angle. “This estate is the home of two giants of American cinema, but in itself it is a very banal procedure,” he said. Pitt, 47, and Jolie, 35, are appearing this month on the red carpet at the world’s biggest film festival in nearby Cannes.
