Electronic Arts served with second "overtime" lawsuit

The San Jose Mercury News is reporting that a second employee is seeking damages against game publisher Electronic Arts for unpaid wages based on overtime worked.

The paper is reporting that Leander Hasty, a Culver City-based engineer on the payroll of EALA since June 2003, filed the complaint earlier this week in Superior Court in San Mateo, California. The paper says Hasty is seeking "undisclosed back pay, damages and penalties for himself and fellow workers."

Reportedly, Hasty's lawyers are basing their complaint on the theory that EA engineers should be eligible for overtime because they "do not perform work that is original or creative and have no management responsibilities and are seldom allowed to use their own judgment."

The suit is at least the second legal complaint pending against the world's largest game publisher. In a similar case, other EA employees are attempting to file a class-action lawsuit against EA seeking unpaid wages. In that case, filed last July 29, complainant Jamie Kirschenbaum (in Kirschenbaum vs. Electronic Arts) 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.

The Kirschenbaum complaint seeks statutory penalties, damages, restitution, and injunctive relief. It, too, was filed in San Mateo Superior Court.