Guerrilla filmmaker Michael Moore, who lambastes several major corporations for exploitation of labor in "The Big One," may need to turn his inquisitive camera on Miramax Films, the company that is distributing his capitalism-bashing doc.
Following an eight-month Dept. of Labor investigation, the Disney-owned distrib has agreed to fork out more than $80,000 in unpaid overtime to 136 employees, according to a report in the New York Observer Tuesday.
In a prepared statement, Miramax said that its management had "voluntarily" conducted an internal review and decided to grant "additional compensation to certain of our employees to reflect their contributions to the company."
The affected staff all worked for Miramax between July 1995 and July 1997. A new policy of paying overtime went into force at the beginning of 1998.
The statement continued: "Miramax has grown enormously in recent years due to the success we have enjoyed. As a result, management conducted a review and reclassification of our employee categories. The Dept. of Labor asked for certain information and Miramax provided all the information that they requested. There was no formal proceeding or actions taken by the DOL at any time."
"The Big One," which Miramax acquired earlier this year at Sundance, attacks many large companies for their unethical employment practices and for axing thousands of employees while recording huge profits.
Sources at Miramax stressed that many of the company's top executives started their careers as assistants, working long hours for low wages. "That's the environment of the film industry," said one.
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