Former Bond videogame studio EA faces class action suit

18-Dec-2006 • Gaming

More details are emerging about Electronic Arts alleged mistreatment of its employees, following yesterday s post about a blog entry from the spouse of an EA employee - reports Kotaku.

In the blog, the spouse complained about EA not paying overtime for hours worked and not giving employees comp time.

Electronic Arts is the world's leading independent developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software, according to their site. Some of their top game franchises include Madden, James Bond: 007 and The Sims.

Thursday evening, a source close to EA tipped me off to a class action lawsuit that was started on July 29 against the game publisher. The suit, which alleges overtime abuse by EA, has not yet been certified as a class action.

The suit 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," according to a letter sent from EA to its employees and then leaked to Kotaku and several other websites.

In the memo, EA denies the claim saying that it treats its employees fairly and lawfully and that it has properly classified its employees within the meaning of the law.

The EA memo ends with this:

"EA will not retaliate against employees for exercising legal rights, including by participating in the proposed class action."