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Interview with EA Attorney
An anonymous reader writes "Kotaku has an outline of a discussion with one of the attorneys handling the EA case. It has some interesting details, including the fact that if the judgment is in favor of the employees it will likely force the entire game industry, at least in California, to start paying OT and Comp. "Depending on the nature of a positive judgment, other employers with similar job descriptions would most likely be required to start paying their employees by the hour and paying overtime" The article also hints that other game industry cases might be forthcoming."
The problem is of course that if the employees succeed but the judgement is enforceable only in California, all the gaming companies will simply move their operations somewhere more condusive to their business practices.
Which is not to say that the employees shouldn't be pursuing the matter but simply that attempting to change the employer's practices through a state court action might not, in the longer term, have the desired result.
A second issue is would such a judgement set good precedent that applies to the software industry in California as a whole. It would seem likely that it would have a fairly 'chilling' effect on the development industry in California if it did.
This could mean that the race for producing games at the cheapest cost possible will either slow down (good) or that the incredibly greedy suits as EA will start to outsource to india (bad).
I pull 60 hour workweeks twice a month now, and did it for 2 years (feb 02-feb 04), only this time it's only temporary for a few months.
It can really mess you up, because you end up simplifying your life down to work/eat/sleep for most of that week, and almost nothing else because of the exhaustion (what I did for those 2 years was extremely extremely extremely mentally intensive, to the point of actually "working very hard" for a good 8-10 hours out of each 12 hour shift). It's offset by a 24 hour week the following week, so it gives you time to get 'life' stuff done, which I appreciate a lot.
60 hours or more week in/week out would drive me insane, and I would rather be making 30k and having a lot of time off, and being happy, than making 200k working 80+hrs a week and doing nothing else but work.
All your base are belong to Google.
Why do you hope EA wins?
I worked for a company founded by some EA guys, and also for another electronic entertainment company (run by non-EA people); I know something about this industry.
When I got hired, they were always upfront about the killer hours. I agreed to them because I wanted the work. I didn't do it for money: I wanted to do the job.
I worked 2 weeks straight (didn't go home) at one place; this was OK with me. I worked 3 weeks straight at another place. All voluntary.
The company was amazing to me because of the tolerance of all kinds of oddities -- as long as we were on schedule. This was in contrast to other environments that were less productivity oriented, where dress and hours were regulated. This matters: in one environment, you don't have nerf fights and your pay and hours are constant, regardless of productivity. In another, you have fun, but you take the schedule risk.
If I was a manager and people started talking "comp time" and "exempt", I'd point out: no dress code, no fixed hours -- just deliver the results when you said you would -- or quit, please, so that the rest of us can get on with the project.
Really, if you want comp time and overtime, you'd better get a job at the Post Office or in a Detroit-area auto manufacturer. Working in games? Negotiate your pay as if you'll be working 12 hours, seven days a week when you are behind schedule.
Personally, if there is going to be a lawsuit, why not one over the mental suffering caused when the publisher kills your title, and you see that a year or more of your work is worthless? That's got to be one of the most devastating work experiences I've ever had -- not the long hours.
http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_law/when_to_
A similar thing happened to me. I was assigned as the lead programmer (actually, I ended up being the only programmer) on a fairly important project. The project manager promised the client we would produce everything by a specific drop-dead date, then spun his wheels for SIX MONTHS in user meetings, not wrapping up the spec until about a month or two before the drop-dead date. By the time he got done fooling around, I had a month to get it done.
I worked 16 hours a day, almost every single day, for about two and a half months, maybe almost three, to try and cut short the amount I'd be over deadline. Managers started attacking me for being so late. I was completely and totally burned out and sent the big boss an email telling him "I'll finish this project, but then I'm transferring out of here and I'm never coming back".
As an interesting side note, not only did I almost burn out and quit being a programmer over all this (I seriously considered going back to trade school and becoming a plumber), my health went down the tubes. I couldn't make real food (I only went home to sleep) so I ended up living off snack-machine garbage. I never was off work while a laundry was open, so I kept re-using clothes. I didn't shave enough, I felt like a wreck.
It was absolutely horrible.
The punchline is, the project manager lied to a bunch of people and then disappeared, never to be seen again. The project got handed off to a bunch of consultants (who took NINE MONTHS to finish it) because the big boss didn't want me to quit (actually, that was touching, he's a pretty cool guy). I got pushed into doing low-level maintenance work because people assume I'm not dependable, that I can't be a project lead anymore. I mean, my rep is blackened with this huge scorch mark because of this lousy, crummy project. My name is mud.
It isn't fair, but that's how things seem to work in America. At least I'm employed, I guess...
Farewell! It's been a fine buncha years!