Tension on television. Since May 14, the production company Hervé Hubert has been the target of a complaint for “attempted fraud in judgment” filed by Charles (name changed), a 48-year-old former employee, reports The Parisian.
According to information from our colleagues, this production administrator in the audiovisual sector has long played a crucial role in managing the financial and social aspects of several television and cinematographic projects.
Employee on a fixed-term contract
Before joining the group in 2013, he had notably worked on productions with renowned actors such as Gérard Jugnot and Jean Dujardin.
He then took over production of the show’s pilot. The Queens of Shopping for M6, which was ordered for 100 episodes.
This project required an investment of 10 to 12 months per yearevery year until 2021, involving casting, filming, but also post-production.
Charles, employed on a fixed-term contract, was subjected to an intense work pacewhich led to a labour inspection in November 2013 after a “excessive workload” caused burnout among assistant editors.
“They very quickly created subsidiaries and, for example, split production into two, one company for post-production and another structure to manage the set. When you are an intermittent worker, you are normally dedicated to a project and when you are finished, you leave.“, he confided in the columns of the daily newspaper.
Hervé Hubert, RDS Prod, Hubert Prod, and La Postprod are related companies, with Hervé Hubert and Hubert Prod being subsidiaries of the parent company Euzèbe Productions. According to Charles, theThe multiplication of tasks has accelerated at the same time as the expansion of companies.
90,000 euros of lost earnings
Despite an increasing workload and long hours, the forty-year-old has never received a single pay rise.
He then points to a “discrimination salariale“between the different members of the team before leaving his post permanently.”I had twelve months of compensation, at 50% of what I earned. That’s what lit the fuse. I didn’t have in mind to be paid for my overtime at the beginning“, assures the man who should have signed a permanent contract. His loss of earnings between August 2013 and December 2021 would amount to a little over 90,000 euros.
However, the production company presented to the industrial tribunal timesheets signed in advance at the beginning of each week, providing for eight hours of work per day. Charles claims that these timesheets were never adjusted for overtime.
According to Me Frédérick Petipermon, this constitutes a falsification and a “attempted fraud in judgment“, an offence. As a result, the lawyer decided to suspend the industrial tribunal proceedings in order to file a complaint with the Paris public prosecutor’s office.
Hervé Hubert denies the facts
Hervé Hubert, for his part, is surprised and assures that “None of the requests made were justified and many of these requests are time-barred. Employees are required to sign time sheets on which they can record overtime.“. “He is a collaborator we were satisfied with. He wanted to leave us to develop his company, but it did not work out. The feeling we have is that he wants to recover money to keep his company afloat.“
“What happens when David the intermittent worker meets the Goliath of the audiovisual industry? Nothing. There is no fight. The intermittent worker can be required to work up to ten hours a day without being fully paid for his overtime. It will be up to the public prosecutor to answer the following question: Do the companies in the Hervé Hubert group know the fair price of labor?“, protests Me Frédérick Petipermon.
According to Damien Labbé, president of UNDIA (National Union for the Defense of Audiovisual Intermittent Workers), the main problem in the sector is the non-payment of overtime. He also explains that this situation is common.
“At the end of the lockdown, we conducted a major survey by interviewing 2,000 temporary workers. On average, they lose eight hours of overtime per week. This is one of the major complaints: the law is not respected.“
