A first-of-its-kind labor action -- one that could set a precedent for the entire reality TV industry -- argues that the participants of the hit Netflix reality show Love Is Blind are employees and therefore eligible for basic labor protections under federal law.

In a complaint issued last week, the National Labor Relations Board found that the show's producers had misclassified the contestants -- who agree to date other contestants sight unseen, leading to on-screen engagements and even marriage -- as "participants." The complaint calls for contestants to be reclassified as employees and for them to receive back pay for any lost wages while they were on the show.

On Love is Blind, which bills itself as a "social experiment," to see whether "love truly is blind," contestants are paid modest stipends for their time on the show. There is no cash prize -- just a shot at finding love.

The labor complaint comes after several former contestants -- publicly, sometimes anonymously to the press, and in lawsuits -- have described poor treatment they faced while filming the show, including allegations that their physical safety was at risk. Their allegations are not unique to the show, but recall similar accounts from other reality TV participants in a genre reputed for its historically exploitative underbelly.

Yet it's the first major labor action filed on behalf of unscripted TV cast members, and could lead to big changes to reality shows behind the scenes of and even what we see on our screens.

If it stands, NLRB's recognition that unscripted TV talent are employees would allow Love Is Blind cast members to discuss working conditions with each other, form or join a union and engage in collective bargaining to negotiate terms such as minimum pay standards and caps on hours worked.

In the complaint, the NLRB accuses the show's producers, Delirium TV and Kinetic Content, of unfair labor practices, including misclassifying the contestants as "participants" instead of employees. The board alleges that under the participant classification, contestants were deprived of worker protections guaranteed to employees under the National Labor Relations Act, and subject to unlawful contractual terms related to publicity, exclusivity and confidentiality.

Former Love Is Blind contestants Nick Thompson and Renee Poche filed separate unfair labor practice complaints to the board last year. After investigating the show's labor practices, the NLRB regional office in Minneapolis filed its complaint.

Thompson, who made it to the altar on season two of the show, has spoken about long filming hours and what he described as manipulated conflict with castmate Danielle Ruhl. (Their marriage, captured on screen, fell apart after a year).

Poche, who appeared in season five of the show, has alleged she was pressured into continuing her TV romance with someone she said was a violent and emotionally abusive drug addict. She declined to say "I do" at the altar, and her storyline was mostly removed from the final cut of the series. The man, Carter Wall, was not a defendant in her suit and later told The New York Times that Poche's description of him was a "stretch."

In a separate lawsuit, contestant Jeremy Hartwell accused the show's creators of underpaying, underfeeding and pushing alcohol on contestants. The show's producers told Variety there was "absolutely no merit" to Hartwell's allegations, but the two sides ultimately settled.

In another suit under review in Texas, cast member Tran Dang accused the show's producers of facilitating false imprisonment and sexual assault. In a statement at the time, producers said, "We support and stand with victims of sexual assault, but Ms. Dang's claims against the producers are meritless."

Contestants have said that non-disclosure language in contracts that they sign has prevented cast members from speaking out about their experience on the show.

After Poche spoke publicly about her experiences while filming, Delirium TV initiated private arbitration. Poche -- who earned $8,000 for her participation on the show, according to her filing -- said she was sued by the production company for $4 million for violating her contract's non-disclosure clause. Since issuing its complaint, the NLRB ordered Delirium to stay the arbitration against Poche or face penalty, as the NLRA preempts arbitration proceedings.

If the cast members are considered employees, the scope of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and other confidentiality terms that production companies could impose on the employees would be severely limited, said Risa Lieberwitz, a professor of labor and employment law at Cornell University and a former attorney with the NLRB regional office in Atlanta.

"Being an employee under the NLRA means that they can discuss their working conditions with each other without fearing retaliation," she said. "And that would include being free from these NDAs, at least with regard to the scope of the NDA."

Delirium TV and Kinetic Content did not respond to a request for comment, but in previous statements they have denied allegations made by former contestants. Netflix, which has been sued by former contestants but is not a charged party in the complaint, also did not respond to a request for comment.

A hearing for the NLRB complaint is scheduled for April 2025. An administrative law judge will then decide if the production companies violated labor law. Either party can then appeal the decision.

If appealed, the case would reach the five-member NLRB board in Washington, D.C. That's where the incoming Trump administration could have sway.

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to revamp the NLRB leadership, said Matthew Bodie, a University of Minnesota Law School professor who teaches labor and employment law. He's likely to fill an empty spot on the board, creating a majority of Trump appointees. Even if the case doesn't make it to that stage, the president-elect is also likely to replace the current NLRB general counsel with his own pick, who could choose to drop the case.

Based on previous Trump appointments to the board, Lieberwitz said it's probable that any future Trump appointees would be "unfriendly to broad interpretations of rights of employees under the NLRA and generally unfriendly to unions."

Before a hearing even happens, the two parties could reach a settlement.

"There's a long road in between where we are right now and the potential for this case to get to the five-member National Labor Relations Board," Lieberwitz said.

A ruling, whatever the outcome, would create a precedent for the entire industry in setting a legal standard that other unscripted TV cast members in similar situations could rely on, Lieberwitz said.

Other popular unscripted shows are rife with stories of stars being plied with alcohol, alleged sexual harassment and complaints that their pay doesn't increase with the show's success -- issues that could potentially be remedied or find recourse if participants had the option to organize.

But Brian Moylan, author of The Housewives: The Real Story Behind the Real Housewives, thinks the path to an industry-wide reality TV union is "a very uphill battle."

The level of turnover on the majority of unscripted shows, including Love Is Blind, presents a barrier for castmates to band together, he said, where contestants tend to be seen as disposable to casting directors and producers.

"Think about the contestants on The Bachelor," he said. "Almost all reality shows, people are on one season and they're gone. It's hard for them to get together and bargain and say, 'Oh, you can't hire us again unless you treat us better.' Most of these shows aren't interested in hiring them again anyway."

The Real Housewives women are in a better position to lead such an effort, as he sees it. Many of the cast members are stars in their own right, returning for multiple seasons, he pointed out. They have leverage because they make the Bravo network a lot of money.

Around the time of the Hollywood actors' and writers' strikes, a so-called "reality reckoning" saw a wave of lawsuits hit the Bravo-verse. Since then, Moylan said, "Bravo is treating their people a lot better than other places just because they need the housewives to keep coming back."

One housewife's push last year to form a union has gotten little traction. Bravo star Bethenny Frankel (formerly Real Housewives of New York), inspired by the writers' and actors' strikes, called for reality TV stars to band together to form a union. Frankel said NDAs silenced cast members from speaking out about the dark side of their work, and wanted her peers to get streaming residuals that are afforded to scripted TV actors protected by the SAG-AFTRA union. (NPR staffers are also members of SAG-AFTRA, but under a separate contract than TV actors).

"People were paying attention to Bethenny, but it kind of fell away because she wasn't bringing everyone along," Moylan said. "She was just kind of focusing on how housewives were treated and what Bravo was doing rather than saying, OK, let's look at this industry as a whole."

To Moylan, a reality TV union also invites several questions around how union contracts -- with rules around hours and food breaks -- would work for shows where some deprivation of basic needs is a crucial element to the spectacle of the show.

"How does that impact a show like Survivor, where part of the point of it is to not eat and to not sleep and not have water, and have to earn food," he said. "Do they have to sign [protections] away to be on the game?"

What about the fans? Could a unionization effort sap some of the drama that keeps people watching if Housewives -- known for backstabbing and bad-mouthing one another -- had to band together to organize?

"I would like to think that there is a world in which you can treat these people well and they have good contracts and they're fairly compensated and the shows are still good," Moylan said. "If you look at the Housewives, they're treating those women -- what I would consider the best in the industry -- and it's still some of the best reality television we have."