A group of production assistants have filed a lawsuit against Paramount Pictures over a series of alleged poor working conditions and undercompensation issues. The suit was filed last week in a US District Court in Manhattan, New York.
The class-action lawsuit filed by four PAs are also accusing Nickelodeon Movies, Regency Films and other production companies, The Wrap reports.
According to the court papers, the assistants had been experiencing poor management while on movie sets. Paramount and co. were allegedly “so strict” during filming that they were not allowed to leave their posts. The assistants claim that due to this rule, they were forced to use their cars as bathrooms.
“Due to limitations on their ability to leave their assigned locations, many of the Plaintiffs are forced to urinate and defecate into bottles and buckets in their vehicles,” reads a statement from the legal documents.
The New York-based plaintiffs are among the crew who worked for high-budgeted movies such as "The Wolf of Wall Street" and "Noah", according to the Los Angeles Times.
The suit also claims that Paramount and the other production companies paid their PAs $140 to $160 on a 12-hour shift. But the plaintiffs assert that they worked 60 to 100 hours a week, and haven’t received compensation for working beyond their schedules.
Furthermore, they also claim that they were not provided compensation to buy food, or even given access to meals on set. According to TMZ, this happened when other members of the staff were being provided with dinner while on location.
During cold weather, the PAs claim that they were forced to run their cars in long periods in order to stay warm. However, the companies did not compensate for this as well.
To this end, the plaintiffs are demanding “unspecified” damages for unpaid wages, lawyer fees and other court-related penalties. Paramount on the other hand, declined to comment on this issue.
