[TRENCHES] Tuesday, March 5, 2013 - Ascension

Geth

Ascension
http://trenchescomic.com/comic/post/ascension

Attention QA testers in Canada

Anonymous

In a decision last year of the Ontario Labour Relations board, a ruling was made on a claim against Digital Extremes, a London, Ontario company producing video games. They ruled that a QA tester is NOT an “IT Professional,” and therefore the Employment Standards Act regulations DO apply to his/her working conditions.

Therefore QA testers should be paid time-and-a half overtime for hours a week worked in excess of 44, and all the restrictions on working hours do apply (see ESA 2000). For example, you cannot be asked to work more than 8 hours a day, or 48 hours per week.

Digital Extremes accepted this outcome by voluntarily complying and paying for the overtime they owed. This claim can be cited in administrative actions against video game companies in Canada for overtime pay.

RMS Oceanic

Happy-ish story!

Though why do IT Professionals not benefit from the ESA?

Beezel

This is the pdf of the court document in question for the curious.

http://gileswhitaker.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/gw-vs-de-2011-c.pdf

Gilhelmi

Dang, I wish they could apply that more in America.

But, Why are IT Professionals not benefit from the ESA also. In America, they get upwards of 3times pay if they are called in on weekends. My brother is going to get an extra $35/day just to stay at home and be "on-call" IF they need him (then OT if they call him in).

Gilhelmi

Gilhelmi wrote: »

Dang, I wish they could apply that more in America.

But, Why are IT Professionals not benefit from the ESA also. In America, they get upwards of 3times pay if they are called in on weekends. My brother is going to get an extra $35/day just to stay at home and be "on-call" IF they need him (then OT if they call him in).

OK, after reading the court document. Much of that case was centered around two-week notice and a he said, company said thing. This part of the ruling is only a small part of that case.

I am still confused but I see now why, at-least.

HeavyP

Gilhelmi wrote: »

Dang, I wish they could apply that more in America.

But, Why are IT Professionals not benefit from the ESA also. In America, they get upwards of 3times pay if they are called in on weekends. My brother is going to get an extra $35/day just to stay at home and be "on-call" IF they need him (then OT if they call him in).

I have never heard of the 3x pay on weekends - maybe it's an industry thing or a regional thing? I work in architecture in Texas, and I've had to pull a lot of long nights and weekends to get a project out the door. As an hourly professional, I got paid time-and-a-half for any hours beyond 40 per week, regardless of nights or weekends.

Hevach

Yeah, I've never worked an IT job with that kind of weekend pay. I'm not aware of any state that requires that kind of overtime pay. It's hard enough getting the 1.5x that most states require because "requirement" and "enforced requirement" are two very different things.

Warlock82

I was waiting for the "and then they fired everyone" at the end of that story :P

mjrusso45

Warlock82 wrote: »

I was waiting for the "and then they fired everyone" at the end of that story :P

This, or .. "and then they outsourced all of their QA to India"

MichaelLC

mjrusso45 wrote: »

Warlock82 wrote: »

I was waiting for the "and then they fired everyone" at the end of that story :P

This, or .. "and then they outsourced all of their QA to America"

Scooter

One of the things I like most about my job (software engineer) is that at our company we're technically hourly paid employees, which means we can't be made to work overtime without getting paid for it. Honestly I consider it a kind of robbery that anyone who isn't working for themselves can get made to work extra hours they aren't paid extra for.