To all DU lawyers, I need some advice on a labour-related issue

[knight_of_the_star]

For the sake of preserving anonimity of all those involved I will be deliberately vague as to the exact details such as age, sex, names, and actual job position.

A friend I know has a friend who works for Fox News in Washington DC. This person has been working there for a month as of now. They are not being paid enough to cover their cost of living in DC, are regularly working in excess of 8 hour shifts, are not getting any overtime, and in some cases will go for a full week without having a day off. They are not receiving any breaks for their position, and the job did not offer time off for holidays or vacations. The reason FOX has for their treatment of this person is because they claim they are a "freelancer" yet as far as I know their contract does not state they are an independent contracter.

My undereducated opinion (I am working on my BAs as prereq for law myself) is that the person in that situation should sue and find another job. There have been previous persons in the same position who quit because of the treatment they received, so I think there is the chance of multiple suits involved. I spoke with a friend of mine about this matter already who does accounting and knows the tax and labour laws in relation to this and said that this sounds like a move that companies make to get away with this kind of crap.

To any and all DUers who have a law degree, preferably specializing in labour law, how many and which laws is FOX News breaking in this instance and what would be your advice?

[progmom]

1. NSMA specializes in labor law, I believe

But it's her birthday and she is out celebrating.

[knight_of_the_star]

2. Do you have a law degree?

At least some more educated advice than mine would be welcome. Thanks in advance for anyone who does.

[Land Shark]

4. both federal and state law will cover employment issues like

this; chances are high there's a claim. yes if you have your own freelance business you can be a slave to it but here's the kicker: they'd have no right to tell people what hours to work, etc. Those are the hallmarks of EMPLOYMENT. yes i'm a lawyer though not an employment lawyer other than just a few cases. Call this a highly educated legal intuition. With cases like this an employment lawyer locally should be able to give a free evaluative consultation.

[knight_of_the_star]

5. Thanks!

I'll pass that on, the person might move if they know this is very illegal.

[knight_of_the_star]

3. Kick

Fox news is bad enough normally, that they are this rotten should piss SOMEONE other than me off.

[kahleefornia]

6. contract?

Does this person actually have a contract with Fox? If so, does it state the terms of overtime pay, days off, etc? Is Fox completely non-union? Even considering who they are, it's still tough for any media company to not employ union workers, certainly for production jobs like camera ops, grips, sound people, etc. Hopefully our person of example is not doing a job that should have a union classification.

Not a lawyer - but I would be interested to know what happens here.

[knight_of_the_star]

7. I'm very sure they do

I'll post more updates as I get the information.

[knight_of_the_star]

8. kick

:kick: