Employees v Electronic Arts, Inc.
Electronic Arts Accused of Requiring 90 Hour Workweeks With No Overtime
On October 5, 2005, the parties reached a tenative settlement on claims for overtime compensation. My significant other works for Electronic Arts, and I'm what you might call a disgruntled spouse." So starts the blog entry of an unhappy wife. But the details are enough to make anyone wince: mandatory hours of 9 AM to 10 PM, seven days a week--that's right, a MANDATORY 90+ hour work week. With NO overtime, NO compensation time, and no additional sick or vacation leave. If that sounds illegal, guess what? It is.
However, such "sweatshop" hours are common in the game design industry, particularly during "crunch time", the period immediately before a product is due on the shelf. Now employees at game producer Electronic Arts seek to change that through a class action lawsuit alleging violations of California labor law.
The suit sought to represent a class of employees including "animators," "modelers," "texture artists," "lighters," "background effects artists," "special effects artists" and "environmental artists," who worked at EA at any time from July 29, 2000 to the present. The complaint sought to obtain past due overtime compensation for these employees, as well as statutory penalties. In addition, the case seeks to require EA to pay these employees for overtime worked in the future.
The settlement is not final until the court grants approval.
