EA Settles Lawsuit
Artists Get Paid?
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Electronic Arts has decided it will settle a suit brought against the publisher by current and former graphic artists. The artists, who were seeking overtime pay, have settled for $15.6 million after claiming that EA had violated labor laws. Under the settlement 200 entry-level artists will become hourly workers eligible for overtime pay and a one-time grant of restricted EA stock. Those same employees will be excluded from bonuses and stock option grants, said Jose Martin, head of human resources for EA's global studios.
EA also has another suit pending, filed in February, by its programmers alleging much the same as the artists, but no news of that case has been released. Interestingly enough, analysts predict that the settlement may actually help EA, as they believe workers will be forced to become more productive or be weeded out, Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter put it this way, "think of it more like a factory worker," he said. "The assembly line just sped up."
Source: CNN/Money Article
EA also has another suit pending, filed in February, by its programmers alleging much the same as the artists, but no news of that case has been released. Interestingly enough, analysts predict that the settlement may actually help EA, as they believe workers will be forced to become more productive or be weeded out, Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter put it this way, "think of it more like a factory worker," he said. "The assembly line just sped up."
Source: CNN/Money Article