3 Ex-Employees Sue DiTech, Parent Firm

Three former employees of DiTech Funding Corp. sued the Costa Mesa mortgage lender and its parent company, alleging that they were forced to work overtime without pay. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, seeks back pay for all loan agents who worked in DiTech’s office for the last four years. The suit, which also names DiTech parent GMAC Mortgage Corp., also requests one hour of pay for each day employees failed to receive adequate meal breaks. The suit does not specify the amount of damages sought. Neither DiTech nor GMAC officials could be reached for comment. The three plaintiffs suing are Gene Acosta, Jeffrey Ellmore and Emad Salman. The company has been hit with a series of legal troubles in the last year. Five executives have left the company’s Internet mortgage seller DiTech.com since three top managers were indicted in May on federal extortion charges. In August, DiTech founder J. Paul Reddam, one of those who left, alleged in a lawsuit that GMAC failed to pay $200 million it owed him after agreeing to acquire the company in March 1999.