A $35-million dollar class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of hundreds of reality and factual TV workers who have worked at Cineflix Canada, which produces TV shows like Property Brothers and Mayday.

The statement of claim for the suit is based on the experience of Anna Bourque, a story editor, whose most recent contract at Cineflix’s Toronto production office was from Sept. 2017 to Feb. 2018 working on Property Brothers Season 6.

According to the claim, Bourque routinely worked 50 to 70-hour work weeks and did not become aware that she was eligible as an employee for minimum wage, overtime pay, vacation pay and public holiday and premium pay because the defendants continually misrepresented her actual eligibility and entitlement.

The claim alleges that independent contractors working for Cineflix have been denied basic minimum standards under Ontario’s Employment Standards Act, 2000. The suit seeks general damages of $35 million plus other compensation on behalf of all individuals who did not receive entitlements in recent years, covering those who worked in production, pre-production and post-production classifications and who worked or are still working at Cineflix.

The production company has responded saying it will be “vigorously contesting” the claim.

“Cineflix has demonstrated a solid history of ethical standards and respect for the creative community for over 20 years,” Cineflix said in a statement emailed to Broadcast Dialogue.

Filed by Cavalluzzo LLP, which specializes in labour and employment, the Toronto law firm has also issued a call for current or former workers of Insight Productions, Boat Rocker and other factual television producers to come forward.

“Picture editors and story editors work together taking hundreds of hours of footage and sharpening it into 43 minutes or so of entertaining television, but as schedules get squeezed our hours expand and there is never compensation for that, so our pay becomes inversely proportional to the hours worked,” Bourque said in a press release issued by the Canadian Media Guild (CMG).