TV workers claim pay, breaks denied

A dozen workers on various reality TV and game shows filed claims Tuesday with a state agency alleging that their employers improperly denied them overtime pay and meal breaks.

The group included writers, production assistants and craft services workers from “American Idol,” “Amazing Race” and “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?”

“We are asking to be respected as workers and that production companies that are making so much money stop violating our rights,” said Justin Buckles, a former production coordinator for “American Idol.” The claims were filed with the state Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, which is part of the Department of Industrial Relations.

Buckles and other claimants were assisted by the Writers Guild of America, West, which has been waging a campaign to extend union benefits to workers in reality TV.

So far, the effort has yielded few tangible results.

“This is clearly the WGA’s attack on the reality TV industry because it’s been unable to organize that industry,” said attorney Ivy Kagan Bierman of Loeb & Loeb, who represents several reality TV producers, including “American Idol” producer FremantleMedia.

richard.verrier@latimes.com