Over a year ago, I posted about the employment relationship artists were facing when taking “freelance” work at The Mill in Santa Monica. I described about learning about Employer of Record scheme perpetrated by Yurcor, and offered my opinions based on my research on the legality of the working relationship and payment practices of Yurcor. I asked that artists who had experience get in contact with me so I could approach our lawyer with the aim of clarifying my concerns and possibly finding a legal remedy for the mistreatment of employees I thought to have taken place.
We recently received word that some of those artists were able to file a lawsuit against The Mill and Yurcor:
Recently, three Los Angeles artists filed a lawsuit in state court against The Mill and Yurcor. The Mill, a visual effects production company, employed the three artists on a temporary basis. Yurcor, which processed the paychecks of artists at The Mill, told the artists that it was their “employer of record” while they worked at The Mill. In the case, which was filed in California state court as a class action on behalf of themselves and an estimated 500 other California artists, the artists allege that The Mill and Yurcor failed to pay them the compensation that they were promised.
The lawsuit alleges that The Mill and Yurcor schemed to treat California artists as independent contractors when in fact they were employees. Under California law, the artists were employees and not independent contractors because The Mill exercised total control over the manner in which they worked, and also set their wages, hours, and other working conditions.
In addition to taking standard employer payroll deductions from the artists’ paychecks for their work at The Mill, Yurcor also took illegal deductions from their wages for Yurcor’s “administrative overhead costs.” As alleged, The Mill and Yurcor sought to confuse and deceive the California artists about their employee status in order to enrich themselves, deliberately misclassifying the artists as independent contractors when they were in fact employees. This meant that the artists lost wages they were promised.
The artists allege, among other things, violations of various provisions in the California Labor Code. They seek relief including lost wages, interest and penalties, as well as an order prohibiting The Mill and Yurcor from engaging in this conduct in the future.
Congratulations to the artists who took a stand and did their part to make the visual effects industry a better place to work. I look forward to sharing more developments in this case as they are presented to us.
Dec 06, 2012 @ 14:54:21
This is great news. I’ve turned down jobs at Logan because they use Yurcor. Be great if they pulled out of California like MBO did.
Mar 02, 2013 @ 14:28:43
I was hoping to learn more about this; and To continue what anim8r posted; I recently just finished up work at Logan and I remember reading this article sometime last year. In any case I had forgotten about this and took the job….I am now waiting on a paycheck from Yurcor, not Logan.
Seems I have to wait quite a while because
“Logan pays on a net 30 payment terms from invoice date. Yurcor receives funds from Logan, we will turn around payment to you”.
I was employed as a Freelance artist, and I was told up front that Logan was not my employer and that the initial rate i set up with Logan was in fact not my pay rate.
So it seems Yurcor is more of a temp agency; that loans the artist out to the studio for a profit????. Now that doesn’t seem right to me, I should get my starting rate that I discussed with Logan, not this after we take our portion you get this new rate, seems they are sticking their hands in the cookie jar I worked hard to fill.
“Yurcor’s bill rate to Logan is____. This is not your Pay Rate. Your Pay Rate will be the Yurcor Bill Rate less the Yurcor administration overhead cost. The Yurcor administration overhead cost drops from 15.54% to 8.54% after $7,000 in gross payroll.The Yurcor service fee is a separate portion, and is being covered for you by Logan.”
I am still fairly new to the industry going on a little over 4 years now; but this is my 1st encounter with an outside payment source, past jobs have gotten paid straight through the studio, the way it should be!
I took this job because it had been a while since the last job, and felt i had to take the opportunity. Nothing against Logan, it was a great experience. But is it really necessary to use an outside pay firm such as Yurcor??
Apr 12, 2013 @ 12:51:38
This is pure bullshit. This needs to stop. If anyone is unfamiliar with the term tyranny, I suggest you get cracking with a dictionary. Tyranny is mounting hardcore my friends.
Logan, Mill, et al, by nature is in the wrong doing too. If they can’t operate a business and get people paid they shouldn’t be in business. Them dump trucking blame on Yurcor is only resulting you getting duped and screwed.
They know exactly that your rate gets screwed. Then they look you in the eye and ”pretend” they aren’t sure what that adds up to. They don’t give a fuck about you for even thinking of implementing Yurcor.
Time to bust a Kap (pun intended Kaplan, lol). Sign those goddamn cards. Take a stand against this in everyday. Be outspoken. Don’t roll over.