Workplace ethics

jermaineb

Hey Fellow Polycounters,

I was wondering if there was anyone that could help out in regards to what is legal/illegal, fair/unfair for an employer to do when looking to hire an employee. I would assume some practices maybe unethical so i was wondering if i anyone had any insight that i could message/email regarding these stipulations.

Kevin Albers

What is legal is going to vary from country to country, so you need to get more specific. Fair and unfair are subjective, so there isn't a really clear answer.

However, I'm pretty sure you can't simply purchase slaves and then work them to death. That is usually frowned on, although some studios seem to kind of forget this basic rule...

jermaineb

Sorry for not replying. It was time sensitive and it turned out not working anyways, but i live in the us and i had been prospected for a position at a smaller studio. I was going back and forth communicating with them. Finally the day came for me to meet them in person do the paperwork aspect and then get started. I had came in expecting to do the day one meet everyone >paperwork > work. I had went to this place for practically a week waiting for the paperwork. During the waiting time they wanted me to do work without any type of agreement. Upon receiving and discussing it i came to realize some of their practices were shady to say the least. Basically they wanted me as an "intern/contract/employee" Anyways i was able to make amendments to the contract and we could discuss it, but turns out that didn't happen.

But i guess my main questions were Can someone have you as a "intern/contract/employee"? and secondly does minimum wage apply for such situations?

Kevin Albers

I'm pretty sure being a contractor and being an employee are mutually exclusive in the US, although it's not rare for small game studios to hire people as contractors and then treat them as employees. Contractors supply their own equipment, determine their own work hours, often work offsite etc, but studios often want contractors to function as in-house employees, working at the studio using studio equipment, keeping studio hours etc, but without receiving benefits and such.

If a potential employer uses the phrase 'intern/contract/employee', I would assume they just want someone who will work for absurdly low wages and not receive benefits. yay. I would also assume they don't know much about the law, and would rather not have to deal with things such as 'laws' or 'ethics'.

Of course, a situation like that might end up working out great. It just depends.

Eric Chadwick

Yeah. It's often best to trust your instinct in situations like this. If it feels shady now, it's only going to get worse once the "first date" interview niceness wears off.

We have some useful links here about legal/ethical issues
http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Game_Industry#Employee_Rights
The "Know Your Rights" link is worth a read. But I also highly recommend the Graphic Artists Guild Handbook.