{"id":1198,"date":"2004-11-17T03:47:28","date_gmt":"2004-11-17T08:47:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/example.org\/ea_a_company_yo"},"modified":"2004-11-17T03:47:28","modified_gmt":"2004-11-17T08:47:28","slug":"ea_a_company_yo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/?p=1198","title":{"rendered":"Electronic Arts – a company you should not work for…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Electronic Arts has succeeded brilliantly in squeezing the most out of their talented workers. According to a livejournal post by an EA Spouse<\/a>, her significant other is forced to work an 85 hour week with no overtime and no compensatory time. <\/p>\n

Some of my earlier employers would be consumed with envy at the EA strategy. The best they ever managed was to get us to work 75 hours a week in times of dire need and they almost always gave us comp time and bonuses. <\/p>\n

In fact, the only threat they ever used on us simple-minded engineers was to suggest that we would not get the next juicy assignment if we didn’t finish up the current assignment immediately.<\/p>\n

We were so eager to get working on the next big breakthrough, that
\nwe spent years working through weekends and holidays so we wouldn’t
\nmiss out on the next big challenge. Duh! It took me two broken
\nmarriages before I realized that my addiction was costing me my home
\nlife!<\/p>\n

EA has carried this entreprenurial strategy beyond its logical
\nlimit. In this era of bloggers, that is an unwise practice. The
\noriginal LiveJournal post had 2528 comments without a single comment
\ndenying the truth of her statements. As one anonymous responder put it,
\n"White-collar slavery is alive and well in the games industry."<\/p>\n

It looks like the time of reckoning may have come for EA.<\/a>
\nEd Frauenheim, a staff writer at CNET News.com, writes about a class
\naction suit being filed against game-publishing giant Electronic Arts
\nfor allegedly failing to pay overtime wages.<\/p>\n

Attorney Robert Schubert, partner at San Francisco law firm Schubert
\n& Reed, said he has initiated legal proceedings to start a class
\naction lawsuit on behalf of a group of EA employees. "We are seeking
\nunpaid overtime for a good number of (EA) employees who weren’t
\n(properly) paid," Schubert said. "EA contends they were exempt. We
\ncontend otherwise." <\/p>\n

It sounds like there is some uncertainty as to what constitutes an exempt employee. You might want to check it out for yourself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Electronic Arts has succeeded brilliantly in squeezing the most out of their talented workers. According to a livejournal post by an EA Spouse<\/a>, her significant other is forced to work an 85 hour week with no overtime and no compensatory time. <\/p>\n

Some of my earlier employers would be consumed with envy at the EA strategy. The best they ever managed was to get us to work 75 hours a week in times of dire need and they almost always gave us comp time and bonuses. <\/p>\n

In fact, the only threat they ever used on us simple-minded engineers was to suggest that we would not get the next juicy assignment if we didn’t finish up the current assignment immediately.<\/p>\n

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