Evasive Angles and TTB Productions, both Adult companies owned by T.T. Boy, have each filed a letter of intent to appeal citations from California's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal/OSHA) totaling $30,560 for violations of health and safety regulations related to the exposure of three performers to HIV earlier this year.
The letter of intent, which was filed September 23, just eight days after the citations were issued, began an appeal process that could last more than a year. “The reason is that is there is such a huge volume of appeals working their way through the system that it takes that long to get a hearing date,” Cal/OSHA spokesperson Dean Fryer told AVN.com.
Until the appeal for current citations has been heard, Cal/OSHA is prevented from issuing “repeat offender” citations to Evasive Angles or TTB Productions, though new citations against either company are still possible.
A repeat offender citation carries stiffer penalties – potentially reaching up to $70,000 per violation.
And since a new citation is issued for each exposure, citations could add up fast. For instance, if a repeat offender were found to have willfully violated the blood borne pathogen regulation by not requiring condoms during a mini-gangbang that five men and one woman participated in, it’s possible that the production company could be fined $70,000 for each person. That’s $420,000 for one scene.
Cal/OSHA can still issue new citations for Evasive Angles or TTB Productions if there is a need, just not repeat offender citations.
“If we found that he was in violation of not using condoms on the set, we could issue a new citation,” Fryer said. “But we can’t issue a repeat offender citation until the appeals process has gone through.”
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Evasive Angles and TTB Productions were each issued the same set of four citations that equaled $30,560 each because Cal/OSHA was unable to determine which of the two companies was the “exposed employer,” the employer responsible for the scenes that led to three individuals being exposed to HIV on or around March 23, 2004.
Part of the confusion in regards to which company to fine arises from the fact that both of T.T. Boy’s companies were named as the owner on the commercially available video reviewed by Cal/OSHA that contained three scenes where three different people were infected with HIV.
Once Cal/OSHA determines which company was the employer, the citations against the other company will likely be dismissed.
More important than the citations, the first ever given to an Adult company, was the decision that made the citations possible: Adult performers were deemed employees.
Cal/OSHA worked with the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement to establish whether or not adult performers should be viewed as independent contractors or employees. Cal/OSHA would have been unable to claim jurisdiction over the adult industry if performers were deemed independent contractors; their regulations only apply to employees.
For their part, production companies don't seem to be impressed or intimidated by Cal/OSHA; in the nearly three weeks that have passed since the citations were issued, virtually nothing has changed within Adult.
