Settlement Reached Over Tennis Channel Paid Sick Leave Violations

SANTA MONICA, CA — The city of Santa Monica reached a settlement with the Tennis Channel over sick leave violations that gives back-pay to affected employees and includes fines, officials from the city attorney's office said this week.

The Tennis Channel is a television-based multimedia company with headquarters in Santa Monica. It's dedicated to the sport of tennis, including the coverage of professional tennis.

The administrative investigation began when an employee of the Tennis Channel came forward to report that in 2018 she had not received the amount of paid sick leave required under Santa Monica's minimum wage law.

That law, which was adopted by the city in 2016, requires employers with 25 or fewer employees to provide a minimum of 40 hours paid sick leave. Employers with 26 or more employees must provide 72 hours paid sick leave.

The employee contacted the Department of Consumer Business and Affairs who opened an investigation. DCBA’s investigation revealed that the Tennis Channel violated the city’s paid sick leave law for 83 employees in 2018, which resulted in the DCBA issuing an administrative citation to The Tennis Channel for 87 separate violations.

The Tennis Channel opted to enter into settlement negotiations with the city attorney’s office. In the settlement agreement the company has agreed to do the following:

• Pay a fine of $500.00 per violation, resulting in a total fine to be paid to the city in the amount of $41,500.00.
• Pay back-pay to 27 former employees in the combined amount of $26,379.47, which will be distributed among the 27 affected former employees.
• Provide additional paid leave benefits for 56 affected current employees, including the original complainant.

Patch reached out to the Tennis Channel for a statement and the company responded with no comment.

This case was handled by Deputy City Attorney Autumn Rindels for the Santa Monica City Attorney’s Office. For more information regarding Santa Monica’s Minimum Wage Ordinance and its requirements under the Paid Sick Leave provision, or to file a complaint, please visit DCBA’s website at https://dcba.lacounty.gov/minimum-wage/ or call DCBA at (800) 593-8222.

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