CBS TV Studios Reinstates Retroactive Reductions in Assistant Pay

COMPANY

3:05 p.m. PDT 3/31/2020

by

Katie kilkenny

Under California labor law, employees must be paid overtime (one and a half hours) for each hour worked eight hours per day and 40 hours per week.

CBS Televisions Studios has reverted to an earlier claim that it was retroactively cutting assistant hours for the week of March 22 to 28 and hours from March 29 to April 4 as media companies seek to tighten budgets amid fallout economics of coronavirus.

In an email sent late Tuesday afternoon, Ellen Goldsmith, senior vice president of human resources, said she wanted to “clarify and correct” two emails sent to assistants this morning: “Currently, there are no plans to limit or limit your working hours to 40 hours. per week. We continue to require prior written approval for hours worked in excess of 52 hours per week. “

The email also said that the studio had no plans to change the overall salary that the assistants had previously worked retroactively, and that the studio planned to comply with California labor laws.

This CBS email marked a dramatic change in tone from the message sent in previous emails to support staff, who sent them to distressed social media forums on Tuesday.

“I have just received a notice indicating that from this week (week ending 4/4/20), everyone will have 40 hours even if you have an OT approval letter,” wrote Tuesday morning a development finance analyst at CBS Television Studios in Los Angeles. email to assistants. “As for your occupational therapist who worked last week (week ending 03/28/20), all of your hours will be reduced to 52.” Many assistants, who tend to be hourly workers, regularly work at least 60 hours per week and depend on overtime rates for their livelihood.

“Until further notice, from the week ending 4/4/20, all attendance records should be delivered with ONLY 40 hours,” added a production coordinator in an email also on Tuesday. “All past hours will not be approved and will be returned to you for adjustment. No overtime will be approved even with an approval letter attached.”

Emails, which first appeared in a Tweeter by showrunner assistant Olga Lexell, were confirmed by several assistant sources by The Hollywood Reporter.

Under California labor law, employees must be paid overtime (one and a half hours) for each hour worked eight hours per day and 40 hours per week. Employees even have to be paid for unauthorized overtime; however, an employee may be penalized for exceeding the internal rules relating to overtime. Employees who are not paid for the overtime hours worked have the right to file a salary claim with the Labor Standards Application Division.

“Under California law, hourly workers must be paid for all the time worked. Period. If they work overtime, they must be paid for those overtime. Period. Whether CBS wants people to stop or not to work overtime, they still have to pay the overtime actually worked under the current law, “Kevin Ruf, labor lawyer, partner at Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP in Los Angeles, Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior court on behalf of the delivery drivers, wrote in a statement when informed of the situation.

“We are very upset and are discussing among ourselves what to do. I know that a group of assistants is being created while we speak to discuss how we will manage it,” said said a CBS assistant source. THR. “We don’t collectively believe that the people who sent the emails are the ones who made the decision, they are just the messengers of a decision that was made higher up the food chain.”

“My colleague and I called in tears this morning, asking ourselves what we could do to stay afloat. We are watching our friends, who are also in panic mode,” said another assistant source. “We all know that our bosses will be fine if they have to take a pay cut. They will always have a place to live and food to eat and a car to drive. But when you make the minimum wage in one of the the most expensive cities in the country, losing almost half of your income can ruin you. “

The news also sent shockwaves through the #PayUpHollywood community, which advocates for better pay and better treatment for entertainment support staff. “We hear more and more stories of assistants who lose their wages every day in different companies,” tweeted Liz Alper, co-founder of #PayUpHollywood. “Many suffer, but these workers live particularly day to day. Take care of them. Ask companies to do the same.”

March 31, 3:51 p.m. Article and title updated with CBS response to its previous email on assistant compensation.