A former “Love Is Blind” contestant has accused producers of Netflix’s his dating show “Love Is Blind” of subjecting contestants to unpaid wages and creating “inhumane working conditions” in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Netflix representatives didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from TheWrap.
Stephen Richardson says in his lawsuit that he and other cast members were “willfully misclassified employees as independent contractors despite Defendants exercising substantial and excessive control over the manner, means and timing of the work” on the show. This included, so the suit says, “exerting complete domination over their time, schedule, and their ability to eat, drink, and sleep, and communicate with the outside world during the period of employment.”
This, the lawsuit argues, qualifies them for protections under California labor law, which would entitle them to minimum wages and overtime pay.
The lawsuit also accuses the show of deliberately intoxicating them. Cast members were only provided regularly with “alcoholic beverages, soft drinks, energy drinks, and mixers,” and water and other “hydrating drinks” were only made available during the day. The suit says they were also encouraged to drink throughout the day without being provided with food or water to mitigate the effects.
This was done, so the lawsuit says, “in order to maintain a heightened degree of control and direct the conduct of the Cast into making manipulated decisions for the benefit of the shows’ entertainment value.”
The lawsuit is filed as a class action — the class in this case being anyone who signed nondisclosure agreements and other contracts required to appear on the show within the four years prior to the filing of Richardson’s lawsuit.
The suit names production company Kinetic Content, Netflix, production company Delirium TV and 1-50 unnamed Does as defendants.
The suit seeks recognition of that proposed class, that all potential members of the class be notified, that the court affirm wage theft and that the practices of food and alcohol provision are violations of labor laws. It also seeks compensation for lost wages, and unspecified punitive damages, as well as coverage of legal fees and any other damages the the court may find appropriate.
