{"id":1377,"date":"2018-10-17T05:05:07","date_gmt":"2018-10-17T05:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ramolawpc.com\/?p=1377"},"modified":"2018-10-30T05:07:16","modified_gmt":"2018-10-30T05:07:16","slug":"why-production-crew-members-are-especially-vulnerable-to-workplace-abuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ramolawpc.com\/new\/why-production-crew-members-are-especially-vulnerable-to-workplace-abuse\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Production Crew Members Are Especially Vulnerable to Workplace Abuse"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"VarietyLogo1\"<\/a>Though their treatment has been less scrutinized than that of actors and writers in the #MeToo era, below-the-line crew members are particularly vulnerable to workplace abuse.<\/p>\n

That was apparent when a representative from IATSE Local 600 \u2014 the Intl. Cinematographers Guild \u2014 visited the set of \u201cCriminal Minds\u201d Oct. 4, two days after Variety first reported on allegations of sexual harassment and retaliatory firings against director of photography Greg St. Johns. The union rep spoke to at least one camera operator and left business cards but, according to sources, fielded no formal complaint about workplace conditions. As one crew member told Variety, \u201cWe were all working or too scared to talk.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the crew members are protected by union representation and increasingly detailed policies about workplace behavior, the peculiar work arrangements that govern crew employment discourage them from reporting misconduct and limit their options for recourse.<\/p>\n

St. Johns is accused of verbal abuse, touching crew members on the buttocks and genitals and firing those who complained. Crew members \u2014 including one, Tony Matulic, who filed a complaint with the California Dept. of Fair Employment and Housing, which is now investigating \u2014 claimed that ABC Studios and the show\u2019s producers knew about St. Johns\u2019 alleged abuse and allowed it to continue unchecked.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Variety for its Oct. 2 story, Matulic pointed out that below-the-line workers are technically not employed by the studios that produce television series, and therefore lack certain protections. \u201cYou don\u2019t feel like you\u2019re part of the business. It just feels like we\u2019re contracted workers,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re just there for the job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matulic told Variety in an interview earlier this month that he believed he was fired from his role as digital imaging technician on \u201cCriminal Minds\u201d in retaliation for standing up to St. Johns after the DP touched him on the rear. In April he contacted DFEH, claiming he was subjected to sexual harassment and retaliation. Such complaints are usually precursors to lawsuits, though Matulic has declared no intention of filing a suit against ABC Studios or payroll firm Entertainment Partners, the two companies named in his complaint.<\/p>\n

The itinerant nature of crew work complicates issues of liability around harassment and workplace abuse on set. Crew members work for shows only for the duration of productions, which are effectively dissolved when production of one season ends, then reorganized when production of the next season begins.<\/p>\n

For most crew, work agreements characterize the relationship as one with an independent contractor. \u201cBut even with that,\u201d says attorney Elsa Ramo, \u201cunder California law, recent findings have held that a crew member under the guise of a film production should be deemed an employee.\u201d<\/p>\n

What company that relationship is with, however, is clouded by the use of third-party payroll companies such as Entertainment Partners to compensate crew. \u201cThe secondary issue is who you\u2019re contracting with,\u201d Ramo says. \u201cYou have these situations where the studio is not the one contracting with the crew member. It\u2019s really a payroll company or a production-service company that then engages with everyone. It does remove the liability to the mothership or the ultimate financier.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have these situations where the studio is not the one contracting with the crew member. It does remove the liability to the mothership.\u201d
\nELSA RAMO, ATTORNEY<\/p>\n

The unions that represent crew members have, in recent years, beefed up their policies regarding harassment and workplace abuse. Though a spokesperson declined to comment for this story, Local 600 has, for example, issued a policy that defines discrimination and sexual harassment. It encourages crew who believe they have been subjected to either to \u201cpromptly report the facts of the incident and the name of the person(s) involved to their management supervisor or a company Human Resources representative, or via telephone \u2018hotlines\u2019 established by employers\u201d and to \u201cpromptly notify a Local 600 business representative of their experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe unions have stepped up their education of members,\u201d says Randy Himes, former national director of sound recording for SAG-AFTRA.<\/p>\n

Typically when a union fields a harassment or discrimination complaint, multiple business representatives are dispatched to a set to interview crew. Depending on the findings, the union could then enter closed-door discussions with producers \u2014 or with another union if the accused party is a member of a different guild \u2014 to find resolution. Based on the language in a union\u2019s collective bargaining agreement, \u201cthey have a lot of levers they can pull,\u201d Himes says.<\/p>\n

But in order for that pulling to begin, a complaint must be made. As Matulic told Variety earlier this month, \u201cWhen you get on a big show like that, you\u2019re happy to be there. You don\u2019t want to rock the boat.\u201d<\/p>\n

The question is, how bad do things have to get before not rocking the boat is no longer an option?<\/p>\n

View this article at Variety<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Though their treatment has been less scrutinized than that of actors and writers in the #MeToo era, below-the-line crew members are particularly vulnerable to workplace abuse. That was apparent when a representative from IATSE Local 600 \u2014 the Intl. Cinematographers Guild \u2014 visited the set of \u201cCriminal Minds\u201d Oct. 4, two days after Variety first
+ Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":324,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-variety"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ramolawpc.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ramolawpc.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ramolawpc.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ramolawpc.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ramolawpc.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1377"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ramolawpc.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1379,"href":"https:\/\/www.ramolawpc.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1377\/revisions\/1379"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ramolawpc.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ramolawpc.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ramolawpc.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ramolawpc.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}