Fashion Police Writers Claim E! Owes Them $1 Million Dollars in Back Pay

If the writers behind Fashion Police get their way, they may soon be able to afford those couture gowns constantly critiqued on the show.

In claims filed Wednesday with the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, the writers on the commentary cable show allege that E! owes them more than $1 million dollars in back wages. The writers claim that E! has broken state labor law by not compensating them for all of the regular and overtime hours they have clocked working on the show.

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The writing staff says that Fashion Police has repeatedly ignored state laws that stipulate that all hourly employees be paid their regular wage for all time worked in an eight-hour period. It is also alleged that Fashion Police has ignored rules stating that employees must be paid overtime for working more than eight hours in any one day, or working more than 40 hours in a work week.
"We love writing for Fashion Police, but the company needs to do the right thing and pay us fairly for all the hard work and time we put into it," writer Bryan Cook said in a statement posted on the official website of the Writers Guild of America, which helped the writers with their filings. "We've helped make it one of the network's top-rated shows and E! needs to start treating us like professional writers."

E! responded in a statement obtained by The Hollywood Reporter: "E! values our Fashion Police writers and we pay them fairly and in full legal compliance."