‘Swamp People’ producer to pay $282K in OT to employees

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - New York state authorities say the producer of such cable TV reality series as “Swamp People” and “Miami Ink” will pay $282,000 to employees who weren’t paid for overtime they worked.

Attorney General Barbara Underwood announced Thursday that Truly Original, created by the merger of Original Media and True Entertainment, agreed in a settlement to pay scores of workers who didn’t receive OT payments even though many worked 50 to 80 hours per week.

Underwood says investigators found that beginning in early 2009, Original Media misclassified some employees as exempt from overtime pay and didn’t keep required records listing hours employees worked.

The attorney general’s office has settled other wage theft cases, including a $411,000 settlement with True Entertainment and a $226,000 settlement with Sharp Entertainment, producers of “Man v. Food.”