Jimmy Kimmel's Ex-Employee Claims Coworkers Used Drugs On Set
The production company for Jimmy Kimmel Live! has been sued by a former employee over what they claim was a wrongful termination, as well as alleged labor code violations.
According to court documents, Brian Ballard, who worked as a set decorator and a stagehand for the production company 12:05 AM Productions, is reportedly suing the company in a Los Angeles County Court after he claims he was wrongfully terminated after reporting another employee for doing drugs while working on the set.
Ballard claims that after he reported the other worker to his supervisor, he was told that it wasn’t their responsibility to control the worker's drug usage, but the situation would be handled.
Then, after reporting the other worker to a different supervisor, Ballard was reportedly told to “handle it yourself.”
In the lawsuit, the former employee claims that the production company “failed to follow the FDA guidelines regarding labeling, testing, and reporting requirements, in regards to the drug use.”
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Following the incident, Jimmy Kimmel Live! stopped operating out of its usual studio on Hollywood Boulevard in March 2020 due to the pandemic. Ballard claims that many workers, including himself, were laid off from their jobs, but in January 2021 “most if not all of the members of the production crew were notified that they were rehired and returned to work on the show.”
Except Ballard was not one of the many members rehired to work for the production company.
In the lawsuit, Ballard claims that the reason he wasn’t invited back to work when the show started filming in its original studio was “substantially done in retaliation for having complained about illegal conduct and the unsafe working conditions which resulted from working under the influence of drugs on the set.”
“The decision to terminate his employment was because he complained to agents, servants, and managers of his employer regarding unsafe working conditions,” the lawsuit also alleges. “These unsafe working conditions were precipitated by allowing other employees to work on the set with other employees while under the influence of drugs and incapable of safely performing his job.”
Although the lawsuit does not specify how much money Ballard is seeking for his alleged wrongful termination, he is claiming that he suffered “emotional distress, humiliation, mental anguish, and embarrassment” as a result of being fired.
