SCEA settles overtime suit

The infamous "EA Spouse" scandal precipitated a pair of class-action lawsuits against Electronic Arts regarding overtime pay. Those cases were settled for a combined $30.5 million. Now the law firm that won those settlements has scored another courtroom victory against a game publisher.

Shapiro Haber & Urmy LLP today announced that it has settled a class-action labor law suit with Sony Computer Entertainment America for $8.5 million. According to the original complaint, SCEA had improperly treated many of its artists as exempt from state and federal labor laws regarding overtime pay.

While exact terms of the settlement were not disclosed, part of it requires SCEA to reclassify some of its artists as nonexempt under wage and hour labor laws. However, SCEA is denying the allegations in the suit, and the settlement specifies that the company admits no wrongdoing.

The court has yet to approve the settlement, and it could still be negated if enough members of the class-action suit opt out of the deal.