Transport the Big Brother House to Paris and they may well have done - the French Supreme Court ruled this week that contestants in the French version of Temptation Island should be treated as production company staff with full employment rights. The three claimants were awarded around £9,500 each in compensation for accrued holiday entitlement, unfair dismissal and wrongful termination of their contracts.
The damage?
Such treatment of reality TV contestants as ‘employees' in the UK could open up a whole number of issues for reality show makers, often accused of ruthless treatment of their ‘stars'. While, in the UK, the contestants would not have sufficient service to bring a claim for unfair dismissal and the option to opt out of the 48-hour working week would mean that claims for overtime would be limited, contestants would be eligible for a whole host of other statutory employment rights with effect from opening night and possibly before. For example, claims could be brought under t discrimination legislation while other statutory provisions would include the right to a minimum notice period and holiday accrual.
Old news?
Some reality TV shows, such as the BBC's How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?, where contestants compete to star in a West End musical, have apparently already taken it upon themselves to engage contestants on industry-standard contracts with pay rates well above the National Minimum Wage. However, while this may seem justifiable for talented performers competing to carry out a professional role, few would agree that contestants on Big Brother should be paid an hourly rate for what some would call 10 weeks of doing nothing.
Common sense prevails
But are we getting carried away? Are the UK tribunals really likely to agree with the French courts that ‘Tempting a person of the opposite sex requires concentration and attention', thereby justifying employment status? In considering employment status, UK tribunals consider a number of issues, including whether the individual carries out personal service for the employer, whether there is mutuality of obligation (on the employer to provide work and on the individual to accept that work) and the extent of control in the relationship. Other factors such as the length of the engagement, the remuneration package and the extent to which individuals are integrated into the business may also be taken into account. While not impossible, it seems unlikely that UK contestants would ever be deemed to be employees by UK tribunals, taking into account the full factual matrix.
While Endemol may breathe a sigh of relief at this common sense approach, for those whose hearts are sinking at the prospect of 10 weeks of Big Brother bombardment, the French alternative (where a further 74 claims have been raised by contestants and the ‘end of reality TV' is being heralded) may seem the preferable scenario.
Catriona Aldridge, is a solicitor at Dundas & Wilson
