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Earlier this week, an anonymous blog entry was posted on the web, claiming to be penned by the aggrieved spouse of an Electronic Arts employee. The blog, which can be read here, details, at length, the extent of overworking and unfair treatment which purportedly goes on behind the doors of EA’s California HQ. It claims that “The current mandatory hours are 9am to 10pm–seven days a week–with the occasional Saturday evening off for good behaviour (at 6:30pm)”
These reports were all but confirmed last night, when an internal EA memo was forwarded, via e-mail, to the press. The memo, the authenticity of which has yet to be confirmed, outlined the details of the class-action suit, and while it denied the claims of the suit, it gave employees the option of joining it, without fear of retaliation from company management. The memo explained the details of the proposed class-action as follows:
“On July 29, 2004, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Electronic Arts Inc. (“EA”). This communication responds to earlier e-mail communications from EA management regarding the litigation. The lawsuit alleges that EA improperly classified some of its employees, including ‘animators,’ ‘modelers,’ ‘texture artists,’ ‘lighters,’ ‘background effects artists,’ and ‘environmental artists’ as exempt from overtime, and therefore failed to pay those employees overtime compensation. Plaintiff’s action seeks statutory penalties, damages, restitution, and injunctive relief.
EA denies plaintiff’s claim. It is EA’s position that it treats its employees fairly and lawfully, and that it has properly classified its employees within the meaning of the law. The plaintiff is seeking to bring this lawsuit on behalf of himself and to represent a proposed class of current and former EA employees as a class action. The court has not yet certified this case as a class action
If the case is certified, members of the class will be notified as directed by the court, and may be given the opportunity to be excluded from the class (‘opting out’), or to hire their own lawyers to represent them.
EA will not retaliate against employees for exercising legal rights, including by participating in the proposed class action.”
A report published today on US website GameSpot has confirmed the existence of the class-action, quoting lawyer Robert C. Schubert, of San Francisco law firm Schubert and Reed, who will be taking the case. Schubert told GameSpot that “We are seeking unpaid overtime for a good number of [EA] employees who weren’t [properly] paid,” He went on to say that “EA contends they were exempt; we contend otherwise.”
The main hurdle that the case now faces is getting certified as a “class” by a Californian court. Schubert conceded that gaining this certification will be “a big battle”. Until such a certification is obtained, no staff members outside of the group of proposed current and former employees can join the action, which is being taken in the name of EA designer James Kirschenbaum. GameSpot were unable to confirm Mr. Kirschenbaum’s current employment status at EA.
We’ll be keeping a watchful eye on this case as it develops.
