DAILY VARIETY
Thurs., Nov. 16, 2006, 10:00pm PT
Whistle-blower sues WGA
Ex-staffer Mial accusing Guild of wrongful termination
By DAVE MCNARY
The Writers Guild of America West has been hit with a whistle-blower suit by a nine-year employee, who alleges she was fired in retaliation for questioning the legality of the guild's distribution of foreign levies to writers and testifying to federal investigators.
Teri Madrid Mial, who filed the suit Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, accused the WGA West of wrongful termination in her July 7 dismissal from her post as a trusts and estates manager at the guild.
"Plaintiff's termination violated the state of California's fundamental public policies in favor of the right to raise meritorious complaints as well as the right to object to and refuse requests by defendants to violate California and federal law," Mial's suit said.
A rep for the WGA West said the guild had no comment. The WGA West has never publicly acknowledged the existence of the probe, and general counsel Anthony Segall told Daily Variety in June, "We are aware of no federal investigation."
Mial's lawsuit, however, accuses the guild of firing her after discovering she had participated in the investigation. And it alleges she was dismissed on a trumped-up charge of making a death threat against another guild employee.
"Ms. Mial repeatedly objected to the WGA West's illegal and deliberate failure to disburse foreign levies collected by the WGA West," the suit said. "Prior to Ms. Mial's wrongful termination, the U.S. Dept. of Labor launched an investigation into the guild's collection and distribution of foreign levies. Guild leadership has not disclosed an accurate accounting of the foreign levies collected on behalf of its members, nor has it distributed all foreign levies that have been collected."
The suit asserted five causes of action and asks for compensatory and punitive damages along with seeking triple damages due to the fact that Mial is a senior citizen.
It's the second suit filed against the WGA West over the issue of foreign levies, which are funds collected in more than a dozen countries on behalf of the WGA. Those nations typically impose a fee on blank videocassettes and VCRs as a sort of copyright use tax for films and TV programs aired in those markets.
The WGA West was sued in September 2005 by William Richert ("The Man in the Iron Mask") over collection of foreign levies for non-members. Richert -- who has since asked to withdraw from the suit -- alleged the WGA has no authority to collect the funds for nonmembers, hasn't communicated that information to the affected writers and hasn't paid them. The DGA was hit with a similar suit last May.
Thurs., Nov. 16, 2006, 10:00pm PT
Whistle-blower sues WGA
Ex-staffer Mial accusing Guild of wrongful termination
By DAVE MCNARY
The Writers Guild of America West has been hit with a whistle-blower suit by a nine-year employee, who alleges she was fired in retaliation for questioning the legality of the guild's distribution of foreign levies to writers and testifying to federal investigators.
Teri Madrid Mial, who filed the suit Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, accused the WGA West of wrongful termination in her July 7 dismissal from her post as a trusts and estates manager at the guild.
"Plaintiff's termination violated the state of California's fundamental public policies in favor of the right to raise meritorious complaints as well as the right to object to and refuse requests by defendants to violate California and federal law," Mial's suit said.
A rep for the WGA West said the guild had no comment. The WGA West has never publicly acknowledged the existence of the probe, and general counsel Anthony Segall told Daily Variety in June, "We are aware of no federal investigation."
Mial's lawsuit, however, accuses the guild of firing her after discovering she had participated in the investigation. And it alleges she was dismissed on a trumped-up charge of making a death threat against another guild employee.
"Ms. Mial repeatedly objected to the WGA West's illegal and deliberate failure to disburse foreign levies collected by the WGA West," the suit said. "Prior to Ms. Mial's wrongful termination, the U.S. Dept. of Labor launched an investigation into the guild's collection and distribution of foreign levies. Guild leadership has not disclosed an accurate accounting of the foreign levies collected on behalf of its members, nor has it distributed all foreign levies that have been collected."
The suit asserted five causes of action and asks for compensatory and punitive damages along with seeking triple damages due to the fact that Mial is a senior citizen.
It's the second suit filed against the WGA West over the issue of foreign levies, which are funds collected in more than a dozen countries on behalf of the WGA. Those nations typically impose a fee on blank videocassettes and VCRs as a sort of copyright use tax for films and TV programs aired in those markets.
The WGA West was sued in September 2005 by William Richert ("The Man in the Iron Mask") over collection of foreign levies for non-members. Richert -- who has since asked to withdraw from the suit -- alleged the WGA has no authority to collect the funds for nonmembers, hasn't communicated that information to the affected writers and hasn't paid them. The DGA was hit with a similar suit last May.
posted by William Richert | 9:34 AM
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