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[Wario64]

Saw this in the paper today

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/10942104.htm?1c

Electronic Arts hit with lawsuit on OT

AT LEAST SECOND SUCH CASE AGAINST BAY AREA VIDEO GAME MAKER

By Mark Schwanhausser

Mercury News

Another worker has filed a class-action lawsuit seeking overtime from Electronic Arts, adding to the mounting evidence that more tech workers are disillusioned with jobs that entail 80-hour weeks, diets based on pizza and catnaps in the cubicle.

The case is at least the second such suit filed against Electronic Arts of Redwood City, the world's largest video game maker, and it's similar to one filed last year against Vivendi Universal Games in Los Angeles.

Legal experts say the case also adds to the number of class-action suits filed by Silicon Valley workers and others who feel entitled to overtime if they have little hope of winning the stock-option lottery.

``Five years ago the valley was a very different place,'' said Christopher Cobey, an employment attorney for Littler Mendelson in San Jose. ``The rewards were tangible and just there within your reach. The economic climate has changed dramatically since then.''

The lawsuits have exposed the bitter feelings among workers in the $10 billion game industry. A survey by the International Game Developers Association cites rapid burnout by workers. An emotional blog by an EA ``widow'' on LiveJournal.com triggered thousands of sympathetic responses. And next month the developers association and the Game Developers Conference will hold a daylong ``summit'' in San Francisco examining ways to improve quality of life for game-industry workers.

`Bubbling under surface'

``These cases bring to light the issues that have been bubbling under the surface of the game industry for some time,'' said Jamil Moledina, director of the Game Developers Conference.

Leander Hasty, a Culver City engineer for the company since June 2003, filed his suit Monday against Electronic Arts in state Superior Court in San Mateo. Hasty is seeking undisclosed back pay, damages and penalties for himself and fellow workers.

A spokesman for Electronic Arts, which rang up $3 billion in sales last year and has 5,100 workers, did not return a phone call for comment Friday.

Since 2000, California labor law has exempted some professionals in the software industry from overtime regulations. Companies do not have to pay programmers overtime if they make more than $41 an hour and engage in advanced work that is creative or intellectual in nature.

Hasty's lawyers contend EA's engineers should be eligible for overtime because they ``do not perform work that is original or creative,'' have no management responsibilities and are seldom allowed to use their own judgment.

A similar suit filed in July by a 26-year-old lead programmer also argued that EA's game designers are entitled to overtime like image-effects workers in the film and theater industries, which are not covered by the exemption for the software industry.

Though he declined to comment specifically about the EA case, Vic Schachter, an employment law partner with Fenwick & West, said these cases illustrate that overtime rules designed to protect low-wage, low-skilled workers increasingly are being applied to high-paid, high-skilled tech jobs.

``Clearly this case rings a loud bell for valley companies that they need to take a serious look at the issues,'' Schachter said.

Maturing industry

One reason behind the increase in overtime suits is that many workers feel the maturing game industry is taking advantage of their passion to create the next ``Sims'' or ``Super Mario,'' said Jason Della Rocca, executive director of the International Game Developers Association.

Workers didn't gripe during the tech boom because they figured that's what it took to get a shot at hefty royalties or stock-option windfalls. Today there seems to be little chance of a jackpot, yet bosses still demand six-day workweeks for months at a stretch.

``Managers are too willing to perpetuate that mentality that existed in the early days of the industry, and it really doesn't exist any more,'' Della Rocca said. ``This isn't a cottage industry any more. When you're one employee of 5,000 and there's no real sense that your passion will necessarily be rewarded, that gets into the gray area of exploitation.''

 

[SKluck]

Over $41 an hour means to get away with that EA is paying their programmers at least 85,000? Sign me the fuck up!

 

[wipeout364]

41 dollars is probably based on a 37.5 hour work week. If you extend it to 80 hours and 8 of those are on saturday you are probably making closer to 17 - 20 dollars an hour. even less when you consider most industries pay premium for weekend work if you've already worked a full week. Doing extra for the company is fine, but when that goes beyond five to 10 hours a week on a regular basis that is wrong.

Really though, do you really think EA appreciates extra work their employees put in? Look at the recent layoffs, so a couple of products tanked, so what, others products (NFSU2)did great, but still lets screw over the employees to make our bottom line look better. Screw them I hope these guys make EA bleed green and set an example for the industry to clean up their acts or else.

 

[Vgamer]

Ya considering alot of these programmers at EA are working 80 hours a week that means they are really only making in the $20 an hour range which is not much at all considering the time put in and the fact that their life is literally spent in their cubicle.

 

[SiegfriedFM]

" if they make more than $41 an hour and engage in advanced work that is creative or intellectual in nature."

This obviously doesn't apply to EA then

 

[AntoneM]

Since 2000, California labor law has exempted some professionals in the software industry from overtime regulations. Companies do not have to pay programmers overtime if they make more than $41 an hour and engage in advanced work that is creative or intellectual in nature.

Hasty's lawyers contend EA's engineers should be eligible for overtime because they ``do not perform work that is original or creative,'' have no management responsibilities and are seldom allowed to use their own judgment.

creatively bankrupt

 

[Argyle]

Over $41 an hour means to get away with that EA is paying their programmers at least 85,000? Sign me the fuck up!

No, the fact that they are being sued tells me that a lot of them are NOT making at least $85K...

 

[acklame]

Hasty's lawyers contend EA's engineers should be eligible for overtime because they ``do not perform work that is original or creative,'' have no management responsibilities and are seldom allowed to use their own judgment.

oh snap :lol

 

[Ranger X]

Nice thread Wario64. This reality have to be known. Working more than 12h a day is wrong in my book. You cannot do anything else than working wich is not healthy at all.
There isn't just the $$$ of your boss in life, there's also you're own life you have to take care of.

Since i'll probably work for EA soon (cries), i hope the employees will be heared about this topic. In my mind it's pretty simple: You work = you're paid. There's no possible discutions. I'm not paid = i don't work. That's all.

 

[AntoneM]

I work to live, not the other way around. When I'm in a situation in which work starts to take more and more of my time then I have either spoken to my boss and figured something out or quit. Currently I'm livin' footloose and fancy free as a student again and I'm loving it. Working sucks.

 

[DarienA]

Well it's not the amt of hours these folks are putting in because I have a good friend at SCEA who never goes home either, it's the compensation that these folks deserve that seems to be the issue.

 

[Ferrarisimo]

Doh! I work with the person who Mercury News claimed filed suit, and this is the first I've heard of it.

 

[Amused_To_Death]

Since i'll probably work for EA soon (cries), i hope the employees will be heared about this topic. In my mind it's pretty simple: You work = you're paid. There's no possible discutions. I'm not paid = i don't work. That's all.

I assume you work for Ubisoft. Isn't EA on record saying that if they do acquire UBI, they won't interfere with their culture or the way they've run their business? You might be safe!

 

[DarienA]

I assume you work for Ubisoft. Isn't EA on record saying that if they do acquire UBI, they won't interfere with their culture or the way they've run their business? You might be safe!

Like that really means anything.

 

[Ranger X]

I assume you work for Ubisoft. Isn't EA on record saying that if they do acquire UBI, they won't interfere with their culture or the way they've run their business? You might be safe!

Well, if EA take over Ubi someday, there WILL be administrative stuff that will change so there may be modifications with the policies and the way stuff is done. I just hope they won't axe everything. I guess Free Radicals and Criterion are healthy right now so it may not be EA style to fuck up with the companies they buy.

 

[Brannon]

Origins and Westwood would like some words with you...

 

[WasabiKing]

Really though, do you really think EA appreciates extra work their employees put in? Look at the recent layoffs

Well, from what my bud in EA Redwood Shores told me, it was all because of Goldeneye. That was supposed to be the crown jewel of that LA studio, and I think we all know what happened. Management and HR went down there to check on what happened, and they found that there were many unqualified employees, hired on because of friends in high places. So, EA cleaned house. That's the rumor anyway...

And my buddy doesn't make $85K, but he would hate to go for an hourly wage, because he knows he WON'T make the money he wants. If he has to go with salary exempt, he knows he's going to take a serious paycut, and possibly losing out on some benefits. Plus, the teams will either expand, adding more new people in their projects, or their deadlines and release dates will be pushed further back.