The agency says the show has committed multiple labor law violations, including unlawful noncompete clauses
In a new complaint filed Wednesday, the National Labor Review Board said that contestants on Netflix's reality competition series "Love Is Blind" should be classified as employees.
The complaint, filed from the board's regional office in Minnesota, says that the show has committed numerous labor law violations, among them contracts that unlawfully included noncompete clauses and confidentiality requirements.
If the ruling stands, it has implications for reality TV as an industry, given that reality shows feature people often engaging in real acts with potentially lifelong consequences. For instance, "Love Is Blind" contestants may end up engaged and even married to one another.
Indeed, the show has faced multiple accusations of wrongdoing. Former cast members have complained that they were isolated, had their mental health concerns ignored and were provided with excessive alcohol.
Renee Poche, a contestant from the fifth season, filed a lawsuit earlier this year against Delirium TV, the show's production company, and Netflix, saying she "didn't feel safe" and that she had been set up with a "violent" alcoholic and drug addict.
In a statement provided to TheWrap, Poche's attorney, Bryan Freedman, said, "Mark Geragos and I, along with our legal teams, have been working closely with the NLRB for over a year and are thrilled that this collaboration has resulted in a monumental filing that promises to change the reality TV industry forever. The practices identified by the NLRB in its complaint against Delirium are ubiquitous in this space. Make no mistake, the reality reckoning is alive and well. This is not the last shoe to drop. Standby."
And former contestant Tran Dang filed a lawsuit in 2023 in which she said she had been sexually assaulted on May 3, 2022 by another contestant, and was "forcefully groped," and that the assailant repeatedly assaulted her over her objections.
In response to that lawsuit, the show's producers said in a statement at the time, ""We document the independent choices of adults who volunteer to participate in a social experiment. 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."
Neither the show's producers nor Netflix have responded to the NLRB's classification.
Though the ruling could have a significant impact, it may also not matter. Earlier Wednesday Senators Joe Manchin and Kirsten Sinema, both former Democrats known for betraying their party at critical times, and both of whom are now registered independents, were the deciding votes to prevent Democrats from locking in a majority on the NLRB board before Trump takes office.
As a result, Trump will be able to appoint the tie-breaking vote to the board. It remains to be seen how things will go, but even if his nominee to head up the Department of Labor is surprisingly friendly to unions, based on literally every public statement he's ever made as well as his record as president from 2017-2021, Trump's NLRB appointee is unlikely to back the complaint.