TV
A French court has awarded €27,000 to three Temptation Island contestants after deciding they should be treated as employees.
The Paris Appeal Court ruled that the country's extensive employment rights should have applied to Anthony Brocheton, Marie Adamiak and Arno Laizé. They were therefore entitled to overtime pay with regard to the 35-hour working week and a raft of other benefits.
Production company Glem, part of channel TF1, said it gave the contestants €1,525 as an advance payment on merchandising rights. It said their role was entertainment rather than work so legislation did not apply.
The court disagreed, however, and awarded each of the trio €8,176 in overtime pay for their 24-hour-a-day roles. It also granted €16,000 damages for being employed illegally, €817 in absence of holidays, €500 for unfair dismissal and €1,500 for wrongful termination of their contracts.
According to The Times, dozens of other reality television contestants in the country are now consulting lawyers.
Maître Jérémie Assous, who represented the Temptation Island competitors, said the ruling would have implications across the industry. "The consequences are enormous," he said. "It’s an earthquake for the television channels who broadcast these programmes. They can no longer impose scandalous rules on the contestants.
"From now on they are going to have to apply the full employment legislation. The right to strike, for example, is enshrined in the constitution in France. That means that a contestant in a reality TV show can legitimately go on strike."
Television executives in the country disagreed, though, saying it would not apply to other shows.
In the UK the case has been compared to recent calls from Equity for One and Only performers to be paid at least the minimum wage.
The acting union questioned whether their contracts with Endemol subsidiary Initial were legal. Endemol said it had taken advice on best practice.
The Paris Appeal Court ruled that the country's extensive employment rights should have applied to Anthony Brocheton, Marie Adamiak and Arno Laizé. They were therefore entitled to overtime pay with regard to the 35-hour working week and a raft of other benefits.
Production company Glem, part of channel TF1, said it gave the contestants €1,525 as an advance payment on merchandising rights. It said their role was entertainment rather than work so legislation did not apply.
The court disagreed, however, and awarded each of the trio €8,176 in overtime pay for their 24-hour-a-day roles. It also granted €16,000 damages for being employed illegally, €817 in absence of holidays, €500 for unfair dismissal and €1,500 for wrongful termination of their contracts.
According to The Times, dozens of other reality television contestants in the country are now consulting lawyers.
Maître Jérémie Assous, who represented the Temptation Island competitors, said the ruling would have implications across the industry. "The consequences are enormous," he said. "It’s an earthquake for the television channels who broadcast these programmes. They can no longer impose scandalous rules on the contestants.
"From now on they are going to have to apply the full employment legislation. The right to strike, for example, is enshrined in the constitution in France. That means that a contestant in a reality TV show can legitimately go on strike."
Television executives in the country disagreed, though, saying it would not apply to other shows.
In the UK the case has been compared to recent calls from Equity for One and Only performers to be paid at least the minimum wage.
The acting union questioned whether their contracts with Endemol subsidiary Initial were legal. Endemol said it had taken advice on best practice.
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