530°

Unpaid Intern Sued Sony and Awarded £4,600

Unpaid intern, Chris Jarvis, sued Sony and was awarded £4,600 in lost wages.

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dualshockers.com
ajames3473922d ago

It's not actually. Funny enough though, it's a little over £1,000 more of what Jarvis originally asked for.

iamnsuperman3922d ago (Edited 3922d ago )

You know what is odd but I didn't realise we had to be paid for an internship. I have always thought an internship was off our own backs with some companies offering money to get people on the schemes (incentives) in the first place. I always saw it as experience (like volunteering/limited work experience but its boots your CV in a certain field) not a job. You do it to have that extra thing over someone else.

Huh, learnt something today

pixelsword3922d ago (Edited 3922d ago )

You don't have to be paid, and in a lot of cases you're not; but if Sony said they would pay him or they made him do work outside of the understanding of why he was there (which they did make him do), he should be paid.

And good for him for not signing a gag order; if they hire mangers who commit horrendous working conditions, others should hear about it until they replace that person.

Hydrolex3922d ago (Edited 3922d ago )

big companies will pay interns... I was an intern at Microsoft ( ProjectManager ) this summer, made 3.5k a month 40hrs a week

UltimateMaster3922d ago (Edited 3922d ago )

WOW! An Intern that gets paid.
Good job, Sony.
You NEVER get to see this anywhere else.

DragonKnight3922d ago

My question is.. why is this even on the site?

How is this news in any way?

trafalger3922d ago

would you be asking the same question if this was about nintendo or better yet m$?

Shane Kim3921d ago

More accurately, how is this gameing news?

+ Show (5) more repliesLast reply 3921d ago
shutUpAndTakeMyMoney3922d ago

He can buy a ps4 with some of that.

Heartnet3922d ago

I highly doubt he would support Sony after he had to Sue to get his money..

extermin8or3922d ago

Well one dodgy manager doesn't make the whole company bad... If it did I can think of plenty of companies I'd never be able to buy from again...

AznGaara3922d ago

More than I've gotten paid of any of my internships.

andibandit3921d ago

I guess every cloud has a silver lining,

anyway a chunk of that money problably went to expenses for the case.

3-4-53922d ago

This is good for the industry and for every intern out there.

The thing is, Sony is only the 400th company or so to try this stuff.

They ALL do it and try to justify and reason why they think they don't have to pay.

It's arrogant and ignorant really.

Good thing it got settled.

Deadpoolio3922d ago

You do realize that companies do NOT have to pay internships right 90% of them you are working for FREE...It's not a job your there to learn something and get the experience

Athonline3922d ago

Based on UK law, if you are doing a set tasks, work in fixed hours, report to someone else then you are consider an employee for the organisation and you are entitled for the minimum wage.

I don't know where you get the 90% from, but when I was searching for interns all of them were paid.

Moe info: http://www.internaware.org/

Shadowstar3921d ago (Edited 3921d ago )

@Deadpoolio: That's probably true in North America, yeah, but it's bad. We shouldn't condone companies getting work from people for free, unless we want to go to a system where people never get paid directly by companies. (I'm not entirely against this, mind you, but that'd be a huge culture change.) Unless you're actually in school, unpaid internships are pretty exploitative.

Heck, while I was in school, I had a pretty sweet internship for IBM. I made something like 25k CAD (for a year long position). Don't devalue yourself or others.

Goro3922d ago

£4600 is a lot of money these days. That's about 10 weeks wages

Haules3921d ago

Thats about one year (52 weeks) wage in my country....

OhMyGandhi3921d ago (Edited 3921d ago )

Haules, where do YOU live and what 1-800 number do I have to call to support the nonprofit that is advocating for you?

Athonline3921d ago

They are indeed, but 4600 for a 3-months intern aren't great either.

From what I remember some years ago, when I was a student: Banks offer £2500-3000 a month, while the least paid internships in international organisations I know (in IBM and Microsoft) get paid around 1400 a month.

With his legal fees and troubles, he could claim much more... but still better than nothing! And it is a big victory for undergrads students who are/will be looking for internships as the intern searching period starts soon!

Eddie201013922d ago (Edited 3922d ago )

Not sure he should have gotten payed if confronted them at the start and found he wasn't getting payed and then he continued to do the job. Unless he was setting them up for his lawsuit.

OK He should have been payed but I doubt he was an angel in this situation.

showtimefolks3922d ago

iamnsuperman

that's what i thought too, i guess we learn something new each day

BallsEye3922d ago

Wonder what the comments would be like if it would be MS.

andibandit3921d ago

pitchforks and burning torches everywhere.

Thisisjuju3922d ago

Now I don't know the full story but I really think this intern is an idiot for three reasons.

1. If you want to be paid, don't take an unpaid internship. He knew his contract before he started.

2. Nowadays companies always research potential employees. It is common practice to check peoples Facebook, Linked and Google peoples names. As soon as his name is Googled this story will come up and no one will employ him for his past actions.

3. References, essentially your ticket into future work. I don't see him getting a positive reference from Sony at all now.

He really shot himself in the foot going public with this one.

Neonridr3921d ago

1. It really depends on what they have you doing. What they were trying to make him do was something that they, under normal circumstances, would have to pay someone else to do. 99% of Testers at any development studio around me (I live in Canada) get paid to do their job. It's not a volunteer job, that's for sure.

2. If the company had zero morals and were only looking to screw out future employees I would agree with you, but that's hard to say for sure.

3. I wouldn't ask for a reference from Sony if I was him. He doesn't even have to list it as a job if it isn't pertinent to his next line of employment. I quit a previous job because I had differences with my boss and I didn't feel it was a good fit. I still listed it as work experience at my current job's interview, I just said that we didn't see eye-to-eye and that was it. An employer would appreciate him being honest and up front about it.

in the end he got the money he felt he deserved.

If I felt the same way as him, I wouldn't let them get away with it either.

Thisisjuju3921d ago

@ Neonridr

On point number 2, I don't believe its a case of what morals the company has, if they see you have sued your last company they are not going to be keen to hire you.

As I said I just think going public with this and putting his name out there for future employers was a mistake.

I am of the belief that unpaid internships should not exist. They are simply unfair, everyone should be paid for a days work.

However, saying that, I recently (2 years back) had the option of doing paid/unpaid internships. I chose not to do unpaid internships as I didn't believe in them and could not afford to do one, this kid could have made the same choice and he didn't.

come_bom3920d ago

Someone tarnished the pure innocent name of Sony.

+ Show (7) more repliesLast reply 3920d ago
mafiahajeri3922d ago (Edited 3922d ago )

Lol I remember my internship. Coming in late, giving them BS excuses so I could leave early getting a talk from the manager. I still got paid though! And a good report at the end of the month! LOL!

ajames3473922d ago

Haha that's pretty awesome. Wish my college internship paid, but that's what I get for interning at a non-profit organization lol

AceBlazer133922d ago

1.What does this have to do with gaming in the slightest

2.Glad the dude got his money but didn't he know what he was signing up for in the first place.

3.He probably lost any chance of getting a job there in the future a chance I wish I had.

lnvisibleMan3922d ago

'...given the job of testing the company’s games’ 3D artwork.'

Abriael3922d ago

1: besides the fact that the dude was working on the company's games?

That has to do with gaming all right.

CrimsonStar3922d ago

Lol Sony can do no wrong in your eyes can they?

AceBlazer133922d ago

Well excuse me for thinking internships were supposed to be free.This is outside gaming anyhow my preference to PlayStation is irrelevant.

IcicleTrepan3922d ago

technical internships are traditionally not free. You're thinking of doctors and nurses, but in my opinion everyone should be paid for the work they do regardless.

BallsEye3922d ago (Edited 3922d ago )

@AceBlazer13

Woah, in my country internships are paid. Sucks for you. Free labor.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 3922d ago
Heartnet3922d ago

Dude did u even read the article??

They made him do work he wasnt suppost to be doing and wasnt covered by the internship.. Which is why he gets paid...

And i doubt he would ruin a chance as he wasnt in the wrong... If a company does you wrong and you sue them for compensation they cant turn around and sack your ass... They would be sued again.... Same here...

Just accept Sony Fuked up big time and get over it :)

extermin8or3922d ago

Actually it doesn't say what his contract says he was meant to be doing... Not enough detail to determine that it may well be that there was some ambiguity and what they assigned him was well within the terms. Note it never actually went to court, he might not have actually won sony just agreed to settle something companies frequently do if they cannot be bothered with the hassel and publicity a court case could bring and can't be certain which side would win.

Gekko363922d ago

@aceblazer13 The guy will get a job no problem. If he sued Sony I doubt he'd ever want to work there again. There are ots og gaming studio.

However that said I have no idea why people like yourself would ant to work for peanuts and be treated like a number at Sony.

No matter how you paint it Sony is a Jap ethos and very much work you to death for very little remuneration and all for what?

Honour?.. Fuck that, Sony can sniff my chocolatebox

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 3922d ago
maniac763922d ago

And all he got was his lousey shirt lol.go get chemicalized lmao

Gekko363922d ago

What do you mean, go on a drug fuelled sex rampage?

chasegarcia3922d ago (Edited 3922d ago )

Sony is a dk for not paying a college kid some money for work. Glad he got the money eventually.

ziggurcat3922d ago

his internship was an unpaid internship, so he wasn't actually entitled to any wages.

3-4-53922d ago

In order to qualify for that, you have to be working under an employee who is ALWAYS there doing THEIR work, which you are helping with.

If he was doing actual work, by him self, without being assigned to ASSIST somebody, then he was entitled to pay, because he was doing what they would have paid somebody else to do.

You need to learn before you type.

Athonline3922d ago

There isn't an "unpaid" internship. Based on UK's employment law they are illegal.

More info: http://www.internaware.org/

andibandit3921d ago (Edited 3921d ago )

@ziggurcat

Could you atleast read the article before you tell us your opinion.

chasegarcia3922d ago (Edited 3922d ago )

Sony (the leaders in the industry) paying an intern nothing? Things like this get me mad because I know how it is trying to go college. It is expensive.

ziggurcat3922d ago

it was an unpaid internship.

it not a case of sony being cheapskates, and not paying their interns, it's a case of an idiot college student who either forgot that the internship he signed up for through is course work (3 months of experience working in the industry in exchange for course credit) or misunderstood the terms of his internship.

givemeshelter3922d ago (Edited 3922d ago )

@ziggurcat

in·tern also in·terne (ntûrn)
n.
1.
a. A student or a recent graduate undergoing SUPERVISED PRACTICAL TRAINING.

"According to Jarvis, he was suppose to work under a staff member but instead was given the job of testing the company’s games’ 3D artwork. According to The Times, Jarvis said he informed his employers that because of his work he was entitled to the national minimum wage"

Simply put... An internship is when you are working under someone being supervised while that person is working. This was not the case. He was given another job to do altogether, hence it is no longer an internship. At this point Sony owes him pay. It's the reason Sony settled plain and simple so quickly. If Sony had a case they would have fought this and won easy. Sony had no case because the job they gave this person was no longer a internship.

extermin8or3922d ago

^ and it took him 3 months to notice that...

LoveOfTheGame3921d ago

@givemeshelter
Let me put it simply for you:

SUPERVISED PRACTICAL TRAINING
If he was interning there for anything remotely related to what he was doing it was practical training.

Also, when will you people learn that supervised doesn't mean someone is constantly over shoulder. I'm sure some of you have supervisors at your work. Are they always standing next to you looking at what you are doing?

Neonridr3921d ago

"I'm sure some of you have supervisors at your work. Are they always standing next to you looking at what you are doing?"

@LoveOfTheGame - if that was the case, I think a lot of us would have been fired already, lol.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 3921d ago
Deadpoolio3922d ago

Ummmm most internships are FREE you are not paid to work there, your doing it for experience and college credit...The majority of internships do not pay you you are not there to make money.

Death3921d ago

Different country, different rules.

Show all comments (114)
110°

Sony Says The PS5 Is Its “Most Profitable Generation To-Date"

During Sony’s recent business segment meeting and investor presentation regarding its game and network services, the PlayStation company revealed that PlayStation 5 is the company’s “most profitable generation to-date.”

It’s the top slide of the presentation, showing that in its first four years, the PS5 generation has already hit $106 billion in sales, having almost caught up to the PS4’s total $107 billion generated.

Operating income for the PS5 generation has also already surpassed that of the PS4, having now reached $10 billion.

ApocalypseShadow2h ago(Edited 2h ago)

I wouldn't doubt it. They released a high quality system. A lot of high quality games from themselves and their support of 3rd party developers and indies. They released many high quality remakes and remasters. They released a high quality GaaS game going against the naysayers thinking Sony would abandon single player games. And they most likely are profiting a lot more than PS1, PS2 PS4 and the loss leading PS3 that drained all their profits.

Now, I'll wait to see what's cooking tomorrow. But can you use some of those profits to better support your high quality VR headset? Because, by supporting it, you can sell more games and more systems and make more profits?

jznrpg1h ago(Edited 1h ago)

I want RPGs for PSVR2! Good ones of course

shinoff218325m ago

If it had some rpgs I would buy right fking now. It looks dope and alot of fun, but it's biggest game resident evil 4(maybe) I've got no interest in. I'm not a fan of racing games, even with that metro game coming i was never much into that series. Rpgs would be fantastic.

Abnor_Mal1h ago

This will surely shut up all the new trolling accounts trying to spread lies and non facts in other articles comment sections before this article is posted.

repsahj11m ago

Wow! I am super impressed that in just 4 years, ps5 already caught up to the PS4's. Congratulations.

150°

Sony CEO says although AI "has been used for creation," it's "not a substitute for human creativity"

"AI is not a substitute for human creativity. We position it as a technology that supports creativity. Creativity resides in people. We will continue to contribute to people's creativity through technology," the CEO said.

Read Full Story >>
gamesradar.com
1nsomniac6d ago (Edited 6d ago )

...not yet but 100% within the next 10 years!

..Then Sony will use it like the drop of a hat. They're no different to the others.

isarai6d ago (Edited 6d ago )

They used to be 😞 sure it was always a business, and money's always the priority, but they used to have a very strong stance on supporting artists and creativity. "Dont f#@k with the artist" was a phrase they touted a few times back in the ps1-ps3 era, a philosophy carried over from their music branch PlayStation was created from. It's not COMPLETELY gone, but it's barely there compared to what it was back then, i just want them to return to that.

Eonjay5d ago (Edited 5d ago )

I am highly encouraged by their statement about human creativity. "Dont f#@k with the artist" is exactly what they are saying. But at the same time, I don't think people understand that Sony is a corporation. If they don't realize growth, they don't get to exist. When you say 'Sony', you are talking about a bunch of investors. To speak about them any other way is a illogical and incorrect. They haven't changed. They have been a group of investors since they became a public business.

isarai6d ago

Ugh, i really wish people would stop gambling people's livelihoods by turning a project/game into their political soapbox. Im all for statements and having your own opinion, but there's more people working on this than just druckman, ham fisting your political beliefs onto just seems inconsiderate for everyone elses job security when it can result in a failure due to people avoiding it for that reason.

I play games for escape, im so tired of nearly every AAA game blatantly dragging real world issues to shove in my face when I'm trying to take a break from it all. They don't even bother to be subtle about it, quite the opposite, it's blasted and force fed to you and it's just getting exhausting

Einhander19725d ago

People are taking a whole interview and cutting it down to clips that make him look bad and take what he actually was saying out of context. For example he also said things like this AI has "ethical issues we need to address"

-Foxtrot5d ago

@Einhander

Why defend him at this point?

It’s not taking things out of context, he said what he said.

Old ND would never talk about soulless AI taking over so many creative things they are well known for. The whole “ethical issues” is just a good PR spin people who push this crap fall back on to make their statements not seem as bad. So many AI lovers do this.

AI has no place is so many creative based things.

Einhander19725d ago

Well yeah, because everyone else is using it so they need to stay competitive. It's the same as paid online, they didn't want to go that route but their competition was making so much money they needed to add paid online just to keep up.

RaiderNation5d ago (Edited 5d ago )

AI will never replace humans in game development in terms of conceptualizing new games. Humans still need to come up with the ideas and what they want to implement. However much of the day to day menial coding could be AI driven to reduce production time and team size. I could also see AI being used for bug testing/optimization that could lead to better quality games at launch. I'm actually very optimistic about how AI can positively impact game development.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 5d ago
XiNatsuDragnel6d ago

Good statement but hopefully this holds up

NotoriousWhiz5d ago

People that aren't software developers just don't understand the benefits of AI. People who's only exposure to A.I is the Terminator movie and other related sci fi films won't understand the benefits it provides.

It's not about replacing human labor. It's about making human labor easier.

Many years ago, I had laser eye surgery done. It was performed by a robot. The doctor took my measurements and calibrated the machine to make sure it would do what needed be done. And then the robot corrected my vision in 10 seconds.

15 years later and I still have 20/20 vision.

Eonjay5d ago

AI in and of itself is not a 'bad'. Money is bad. Money is evil, and corporations will do whatever they can to get more of it. They will find ways to implement AI to replace as may jobs as possible. This isn't even up for debate. It is the charge of the corporation to maximize returns for the investors. They have no choice. I'm a developer and I know that my job will absolutely be replaced. Therefore, I have decided to become an AI dev. AI has a lot of potential to help us solve problem on a scale most can't even imagine. The issue, as ever is that our monetary system only ever allows us to focus on greed and fiscal growth.

But I am a pragmatist. Perhaps an AI model can be built to help protect us from our most dangerous instincts and habits. And perhaps Congress can pass laws to protect us from people who would use AI to manipulate and control us (spoiler: they wont).

RaiderNation5d ago (Edited 5d ago )

Progress is inevitable. Nobody driving cars today is complaining that the horse and buggy is no longer around. Yes, some jobs will be lost but guess what? With innovation comes new job opportunities. It's how the cycle of the job market works.

150°

Sony Patents To Prevent You From In-Game Harassment By Reading Your Emotions

A new patent recently published by Sony wants to gather biometric data of gamers to track whether one is being harassed using AI tools.

Profchaos34d ago (Edited 34d ago )

I hope this is one of those patents that never comes to fruition.

I already dislike the fact you can pay a significant amount for a online service buy associated games and content on said service and get banned from that service over potentially a misunderstanding the bans are already handed out for flimsy reasons

I'd rather see money invested in a ban that simply removes the offensive players ability to communicate with unknown players allow them to continue party chats with friends but not with Joe blow on cod.

exputers34d ago

Agreed. Blizzard recently banned a college Overwatch 2 player who's dependent for saying "shit." Pretty harsh.

Profchaos34d ago (Edited 34d ago )

How rediculas really. You can't say a word that's allowed in most PG films and prime time TV but the game is based around killing the enemy team using guns, explosives etc.

It's just backwards.

just_looken34d ago

What your talking about is called block list

In 2006 a spaceship dropped of the playstation 3/xbox 360 i say that that generation was the last great gen with game functions/tech that has yet to comeback

Anyhow the playstation 3 if you block listed a id they could not talk to you in chatroom with either text or voice. But that was pre mind fucked 2018 when people were more human than sheep.

But hey gta 6 is coming out billion dollar budget without a single player custom character creator and without singeplayer coop off/online something saints row 1-3 had on the xbox 360.

z2g34d ago

Take my social security and bank account numbers too! Here’s a picture of my wife and our address.

phoenixwing34d ago

Cmon where's the pictures of your children. Don't hold out on them.

H934d ago

At this rate I feel Sony will eventually sell a room to play games in it where they can monitor your every breath

jambola34d ago

I genuinely get a bit worried sometimes when a friend says something that could be offensive In a party
Because I have no trouble believing some bans would happen when in a private party for saying something wrong

SegaSaturn66934d ago

I want them to censor erotic content by measuring my groin temperature so i dont get too distracted while playing black ops 2.

Popsicle34d ago

Terrible idea. Not only do I not consent to providing my biometric data, the potential for mishandling biometric data is almost a certainty. Positive stress and negative stress can produce similar changes in biometrics. Interpreting the precise emotion a person is feeling is not only invasive but could be easily misconstrued. I hope this never comes to fruition.

Show all comments (14)