A background actor’s class action lawsuit against Amazon Studios for wage law violations can take her case back to state court, said a California judge
Santa Clara, CAA California federal judge has given the greenlight to a background actor’s class action lawsuit against Amazon Studios for wage law violations. U.S. District Judge Consuelo B. Marshall determined that federal labor law doesn't preempt the claims, which involved hourly rate payments that didn't fall under collective bargaining agreements with the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA).
And Apple Studios was hit with a separate and similar proposed class action lawsuit, alleging the studio failed to properly calculate wages for background actors for their work on Apple TV and Amazon shows, and failed to provide rest periods according to the California labor law.
Amazon Class Action Timeframe
May 2023: Josephine Tehrani filed the lawsuit claiming that Amazon Studios underpaid overtime wages to non-union background actors on the set of its movie "Candy Cane Lane" along with other wage law violations. According to court documents, Tehrani claimed that she and other “non-union” background actors who worked on the film set were underpaid by Amazon because it failed to take into account certain “non-discretionary incentive pay” when calculating class members' regular rate of pay, thereby causing underpayment of their overtime pay. (Incentive pay included “wet work, smoke work, hair premiums, body make-up premiums, wardrobe allowances, [and] night premiums, among other things, that are not excludable under California law when calculating an employee's regular rate.”)
Tehrani also claims that Amazon failed to pay her the requisite premium for a meal and rest period that was required under state law but that she did not receive on one of the days she worked on set.
Her first amended complaint (FAC) alleges the following state law claims:
(1) failure to pay premiums for meal and rest period violations
(2) failure to pay overtime wages
(3) failure to pay wages due and owning on separation
(4) failure to provide accurate wage statements
(5) unfair business practices
(6) penalties pursuant to California's Private Attorneys General Act
The FAC also defines four subclasses, of “[a]ll current and former non-exempt nonunion employees of Defendants employed as background talent in California” who allegedly are owed (1) overtime wages; (2) meal and rest break premiums; (3) waiting time penalties; and (4) damages for inaccurate wage statements.
May 10, 2024: Amazon filed a Motion to Dismiss the FAC under Rule 12(b)(6) on the grounds that Plaintiff's claims are preempted by section 301 of the LMRA and Plaintiff failed to exhaust her contractual remedies under applicable SAG-AFTRA collective bargaining agreements.
May 30, 2024: Plaintiff filed a Motion to Remand the case back to state court.
June 11, 2024: The parties filed their respective oppositions to the motions.
June 18, 2024: The parties filed their respective replies.
The case is Josephine Tehrani v. Amazon Studios LLC et al., case number 2:23-cv-06385, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
Apple Studios Unpaid Wages Class Action
Background actor Daniel Ferguson filed two separate lawsuits against Apple Studios and against Amazon and Big Indie in May 2024. Ferguson claims that Apple Studios stiffed him and other background actors while working on the set of Palm Royale and also for his work on Daisy Jones and the Six. Ferguson worked for the studio in Los Angeles for four months in 2022 during the former production. Ferguson filed the proposed class action in May 2024 in Los Angeles Superior Court, accusing the studio of maintaining a policy and practice of not paying them for all of the hours they worked and refusing to provide legally-mandated meal breaks.
In his complaint against Amazon and Big Indie, Ferguson said he was paid $15 per hour for work that did not include meal or rest breaks. The studios regularly required background actors to work four consecutive hours, without providing a 10-minute break, he alleged, and reported by Law360. The company also "maintained a systematic, company-wide policy" by not paying background talent for all hours worked, including overtime, and requiring them to work off the clock and uncompensated.
In both lawsuits, Ferguson claimed that Apple, Amazon and Big Indie refused to compensate for cell phone expenses, failed to provide adequate breaks and failed to factor in non-discretionary bonuses in his wage statement.
Law360 said that Ferguson is seeking to represent classes in both suits of current and former hourly workers for Apple and Amazon in California in the last four years and 178 days who have not received all their minimum and overtime wages owed, legally compliant meal and rest breaks, wages upon termination or reimbursements for business expenses, he said. Ferguson wants to recover unpaid wages and damages on the proposed classes' behalf, which he said includes over 100 workers in both cases.
The cases are Ferguson v. Apple Video Programming, case number 24STCV11206, and Ferguson v. Big Indie Pictures Inc. et al., case number 24STCV11214, in the Los Angeles County Superior Court of the State of California.
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