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Court of Appeal:
Plaintiff Claims Volunteers at Film Festival Were Lured by Promise of Free Admission, but Work Hours
Were So Long That There Was No Opportunity to Enjoy Event, Requiring Compensation as Employees
By a MetNews Staff Writer
The Court of Appeal for this district held on Friday that a judge correctly denied class certification in an action which alleges that the American Film Institute commits wage and hour violations by failing to recognize that under California law, it can’t use free labor at its annual film festival and the volunteers are actually employees.
Div. Two’s presiding justice authored the opinion. It affirms an order by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Daniel J. Buckley, agreeing with him that common questions do not predominate.
The plaintiff, paralegal Laurie Woods, a former AFI volunteer, alleged in her first amended complaint, filed June 19, 2018:
“Through websites, social media and other means of advertising, Defendants recruited thousands of Volunteer Employees to work at their events. Instead of paying Volunteer Employees for their work, Defendants provided volunteers only with free admission to the event a volunteer employee would work. However, the value of this ‘free admission’ was highly overstated and essentially worthless, as volunteers spent the majority of their time performing duties under the direction and control of Defendants.”
Promise Is ‘Illusory’
In light of work shifts “which often lasted over 12 hours,” she...
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