In the street, people recognized her.
Sandy Prenois regularly received bouquets of flowers in her name addressed to the editorial staff of BFM Business.
A very real notoriety, but a precarious financial status.
“To have a coffee, I had to borrow from my companion, I was ashamed to say that I was not paid, even my friends were not all aware of my situation, it was complicated to 'explain that', blows the columnist who says she worked "about three days a week" for four years, without ever receiving any salary.
The one who officiated in 171 weekly shows "Tastes of luxury" between January 2013 and December 2016 assigned her ex-employer to the industrial tribunal and found herself last Wednesday facing a judge in order to claim 282,300 euros, for in particular reminder of wages, concealed work, as well as the corresponding unemployment and pension contributions.
The decision will be made in early July.
"I decided to attack because, when the show stopped, I was not even warned in advance, then I said to myself that it was too much, relates the one who now directs a communication company.
I loved what I was doing, come to think of it it twists my heart.
I am bitter to be there, to claim my due.
But that period screwed me up.
"
"I wanted to be a journalist so I hung on"
Initially a culture columnist at Radio France for 20 euros an hour, then responsible for traffic information at 107.7, Sandy Prenois plunges into the deep end by responding to an ad.
“We were several candidates for this section in luxury and I was chosen, she recalls.
I was told that I was being taken on a test, with the promise of a salary when I had proven myself.
"
After six months on television, on August 20, 2013, the columnist asked to be paid.
The beginning of an unsuccessful four-year negotiation: "I fully understand your request, unfortunately management is tightening the bolts everywhere", his supervisor reportedly replied.
“I wanted to be a journalist so I stuck with it, thanks to my companion who was providing financial support,” says Sandy Prenois.
The mails follow one another. In vain. "I was made to understand that I had to be patient, that I would be rewarded," she says, rereading the exchanges. Sometimes I was told that if I was not happy I could leave, that there were people to replace me. Other times, I was told that at the end of the column we could put a link to my blog. And that I was not a loser because I was gaining notoriety or that this experience would look good on my CV. "
She tries well, for a few weeks to take a parallel job, as a real estate agent.
But impossible.
“I had to go and do reports, interviews, meet the managers of luxury brands, collect information, because every week I proposed five or six subjects and three or four were chosen for my column, details the columnist.
Sometimes I also had to take orders from the host, but whatever happened, I had to find something to fill the five minutes on the air.
"
It then bounces back on CNews
Even today, the official BFM Business account on video-sharing platforms allows you to watch old issues of this weekly one-hour show. Sandy Prenois is on the air for about ten minutes. At the time, during the end of the year celebrations, she rubbed shoulders with the rest of the editorial staff. “Everyone knew that I worked there, in management, the make-up artists, but also other columnists and the management knew my situation since they refused to give me an entry badge, because it was the risk that I them. attack ", sighs Sandy Prenois who nevertheless has a stamped certificate stating her work at BFM Business:" I told them that I needed it for further training, they gave it to me by just asking me not to overhang them (
Editor's note: vis-à-vis the labor inspectorate
).
"
At the end of this experience, when “Tastes of luxury” is not renewed, Sandy Prenois immediately bounces back on CNews where she officiates daily for a column on the economy and digital… paid 180 euros by freelance.
But the pace of the morning does not suit her and she decides to leave.
“The job of journalist, I love it above all, every year I try to come back, I offer columns, I get in touch again, admits Sandy Prenois.
But when you attack an employer like that, it's not easy afterwards.
That's why there are so few doing it.
But there are a lot of young journalists who are exploited in the media.
"
When contacted, the press service and the management of BFMTV, on which BFM Business depends, did not wish to answer our questions. The lawyer for the first French news channel, on the other hand, advanced his pawns during the hearing, believing that "Sandy Prenois was not a journalist because she did not have a press card". An argument swept away by the magistrate who recalled that a press card could not in any case be obtained without a payslip. "Whatever happens I will not let go," announces the columnist.