Insight Productions Facing a $35M Ontario Class Action Over Unpaid Wages

A $35 million unpaid wages class action lawsuit was filed against Insight Productions, a Toronto-based production company, over allegations it owes unpaid overtime, vacation pay and holiday premiums to hundreds of workers.

Insight has worked on popular reality shows including “The Amazing Race Canada,” “Big Brother Canada” and “Battle of the Blades.”

According to the unpaid wages class action lawsuit, Insight’s employment contracts failed to comply with Ontario’s Employment Standards Act.

The unpaid wages class action lawsuit accuses Insight of misclassifying some of its workers as independent contractors or corporate loan-outs instead of employees, failing to compensate workers at a rate equal to or greater than minimum wage, failing to properly compensate workers who worked overtime, failing to compensate workers for vacation pay, and other wage and hour violations.

According to the Insight Productions class action lawsuit, the proposed Class Members should have been considered employees of Insight based on their job duties and the supervision and control that Insight imposed on them.

Plaintiff Anna Bourque of Toronto says she worked for Insight as a story editor from Aug. 27, 2018 through Jan. 21, 2019. According to the Insight Productions class action lawsuit, she was directed as to how, where and when she could perform her job duties.

Bourque says she worked approximately 60 to 70 hours per week, but was unaware that she was entitled to minimum wage, overtime pay, vacation pay, public holiday, and premium pay. She says the Insight defendants misrepresented her eligibility and entitlement to this type of pay because she had been incorrectly informed that she was not an employee of Insight.

Further, Bourque says that she and other Class Members were required to work overtime, but when it came time to submit timesheets, Class Members were given timesheets that had already been filled out by the Insight defendants and did not account for the actual number of hours worked.

Bourque filed the unpaid wages class action lawsuit on behalf of herself and a proposed Class defined as: “All non-managerial and non-unionized persons who, since 2001, worked or continue to work for the Insight Defendants in Ontario in pre-production, and/or production, and/or post-production job classifications.”

The unpaid wages class action lawsuit asserts claims against Insight for violations of the Employment Standards Act, breach of contract, breach of the duty of good faith, negligence, and unjust enrichment.

In addition to $35 million in general damages for Class Members, the Insight class action lawsuit also seeks $10 million in punitive, aggravated and exemplary damages.

Insight denies the allegations and says it will fight the class action lawsuit.

Other television production companies in Canada are also taking heat for allegedly misclassifying workers as independent contractors instead of employees. Cineflix is also facing a $35 employee misclassification class action lawsuit over alleged violations of Ontario’s Employment Standards Act.

What do you think about this unpaid wages class action lawsuit? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!

Bourque is represented by Stephen J. Moreau and Genevieve Cantin of Cavalluzzo LLP.

The Insight Productions Unpaid Wages Class Action Lawsuit is Anna Bourque v. Insight Productions Ltd., Case No. CV-20-00636770-00CP, in the Superior Court of Justice, Ontario, Canada.

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