Labour Board classifies 'Love Is Blind' contestants as employees

Two Love Is Blind participants -- Poche and Nick Thompson -- submitted complaints to the labor board, resulting in an investigation into the policies and practices of the production companies behind the show, which include Kinetic Content and Delirium TV

The National Labour Relations Board issued a complaint against the hit reality show Love Is Blind on Wednesday in which it classified the show's contestants as employees, opening a case that could have ripple effects across the reality television industry.

The complaint by the labour board's regional office in Minnesota says that the show committed several labour violations, including unlawful contractual terms related to confidentiality and noncompete provisions.

By classifying the cast members -- who date and sometimes marry other singles on the show -- as employees with certain federal legal protections, the complaint opens the door to possible unionization. It is one of the labor board's first forays into reality television and a major development in the effort by some on-screen personalities to change the industry through the legal system.

Several contestants on Love Is Blind, which streams on Netflix and has been one of the buzziest dating shows since its debut in 2020, have come forward in lawsuits, in interviews and on social media with objections to the restrictions outlined in their contracts.

One contestant, Renee Poche, got into a legal dispute with the show after she publicly accused the production of allowing her to get engaged, in front of TV cameras, to a man "who was unemployed with a negative balance in his bank account." She said in court papers that after she had made "limited public remarks about her distressing time on the program," one of the companies behind the production initiated arbitration proceedings against her, accusing her of violating her nondisclosure agreement and seeking $4 million. (Her suit said she had earned a total of $8,000 on the program.)

Two Love Is Blind participants -- Poche and Nick Thompson -- submitted complaints to the labour board, resulting in an investigation into the policies and practices of the production companies behind the show, which include Kinetic Content and Delirium TV.

A lawyer representing the production companies declined to comment. Representatives for Netflix, which streams the show but is not listed in the complaint, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A Love Is Blind season features 30 singles who date one another from separate rooms known as "pods." Their conversations are fed through speakers, and they do not see whom they are talking with unless they decide to become engaged -- a commitment that also comes with a wedding where they can say "I do" or walk away.

The production companies have long defended their treatment of the cast members, arguing that every decision the contestants make is up to them.

"We document the independent choices of adults who volunteer to participate in a social experiment," the show's creator, Chris Coelen, said in a statement to People magazine amid complaints last year. "Their journey is not scripted, nor is it filmed around the clock. We have no knowledge or control over what occurs in private living spaces when not filming, and participants may choose to end their journey at any time."

In defending themselves against legal actions, the companies have asserted that the show's participants are not employees. The labour board's complaint demands that the show reclassify its participants as employees and rescind what it calls unlawful contractual provisions.

Complaints are issued after a labour board regional office concludes that there is merit to accusations that have been made against an employer. They are then litigated before an administrative law judge, who will determine whether the employer has violated the law. The employers could appeal an adverse decision to the national labour board in Washington.

In a statement, Bryan Freedman, a lawyer representing Poche and several other reality television litigants outside Love Is Blind, said in a statement Wednesday that he thought the labour complaint had the potential to transform the industry.

"Cast members are stripped of fundamental rights, gagged from speaking out, denied legal recourse, paid virtually nothing, subjected to the ever-present threat of ruinous liquidated damages and prevented from working elsewhere," he said. "These practices must stop."