Cineflix faces class-action lawsuit

Compensation as far back as 2000

TORONTO • The company that makes Property Brothers and dozens of other TV programs is being sued for millions in regular wages as well as overtime, vacation and public holiday pay claimed on behalf of hundreds of contract production personnel.

The proposed class-action suit claims Cineflix and its affiliates violated the Ontario Employment Standards Act and seeks compensation for all past, present and future personnel in certain job classifications as far back as 2000.

The suit filed in an Ontario court also claims the defendants are liable for any tax liabilities, Canada Pension Plan or employment insurance contributions owed by the affected personnel.

The allegations have not been proven in court and Cineflix did not immediately respond to emails and phone messages requesting comment.

The suit claims that Ontario’s provincial labour law applies — and entitles the plaintiffs to a minimum wage and other protections

AS SCHEDULES GET SQUEEZED OUR HOURS EXPAND.

of the Employment Standards Act — because of the specific working conditions required of the personnel.

For example, the suit says members of the class must adhere to a schedule determined by Cineflix, they’re told when and where to work, and to request unpaid days off in advance of taking such days as “vacation” or “sick days.”

The suit is seeking about $35 million in general damages and $10 million in punitive damages, plus costs and interest.

The proposed class action was launched by Torontobased law firm Cavalluzzo, which launched a similar class action earlier this year against Blyth Academy, a private school with a number of campuses, on behalf of teachers.

The named plaintiff in the Cineflix suit, Anna Bourque, worked as a story editor from September 2017 to February 2018 at the company’s Toronto production office location.

“Picture editors and story editors work together taking hundreds of hours of footage and sharpening it into 43 minutes or so of entertaining television, but as schedules get squeezed our hours expand and there is never compensation for that, so our pay becomes inversely proportional to the hours worked,” Bourque said in a press statement.

RICHARD DREW / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES Jonathan Scott, left, and Drew Scott of the Property Brothers mimic traders when they visited the New York Stock Exchange in 2014. The Property Brothers is made by Cineflix, a company which is the target of a class-action lawsuit.