By Neal Romanek, November 26, 2007
Producers of reality TV shows are flouting California's wage and hour laws by improperly denying overtime payments and meal breaks to most of the writers who work on their shows, according to a survey commissioned by the Writers Guild of America, West.
The survey, conducted by Goodwin Simon Victoria Research, states that reality production companies and payroll service firms improperly classify writers who work in the industry as exempt from state and federal overtime pay requirements, depriving them of more than $30 million a year in lost wages.
Among 303 writers who responded to the online survey, 91% said they received no overtime pay and 59% said their time cards didn't reflect the hours they worked
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On average, writers worked 16 hours of unpaid overtime a week. That's an average loss in annual wages of $38,400, according to the report to be released next week by Goodwin Simon Victoria, aCulver City firm that conducts research for a number of unions and other organizations.
"It's clear to us that the wage and hour violations are massive," said Jeff Hermanson, assistant executive director of the Writers Guild of America, West.
Click here to read the entire article by Richard Verrier at the L.A. Times online.
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