Unpaid Intern Sued Sony and Awarded £4,600

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

[PSNintyGamer]

Ehh, That's not alot

[ajames347]

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

[iamnsuperman]

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

[pixelsword]

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.

[Hydrolex]

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

[UltimateMaster]

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

[DragonKnight]

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

How is this news in any way?

[trafalger]

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

[Ritsujun]

UltimateMaster's mad.

[Shane Kim]

More accurately, how is this gameing news?

[shutUpAndTakeMyMoney]

He can buy a ps4 with some of that.

[Heartnet]

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

[extermin8or]

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...

[AznGaara]

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

[andibandit]

I guess every cloud has a silver lining,

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

[3-4-5]

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.

[Deadpoolio]

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

[Athonline]

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/

[Shadowstar]

@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.

[Goro]

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

[Haules]

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

[OhMyGandhi]

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

[Athonline]

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!

[Eddie20101]

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.

[showtimefolks]

iamnsuperman

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

[BallsEye]

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

[andibandit]

pitchforks and burning torches everywhere.

[Thisisjuju]

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.

[Neonridr]

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.

[Thisisjuju]

@ 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_bom]

Someone tarnished the pure innocent name of Sony.

[mafiahajeri]

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!

[lnvisibleMan]

Was that before you turned to organised crime.

[mafiahajeri]

http://m.youtube.com/watch?...

[ajames347]

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

[AceBlazer13]

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.

[lnvisibleMan]

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

[Abriael]

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

That has to do with gaming all right.

[CrimsonStar]

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

[AceBlazer13]

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

[Irishguy95]

Preference to Sony*

[IcicleTrepan]

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.

[BallsEye]

@AceBlazer13

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

[Heartnet]

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 :)

[extermin8or]

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.

[Gekko36]

@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

[maniac76]

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

[Gekko36]

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

[chasegarcia]

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

[ziggurcat]

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

[3-4-5]

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.

[Athonline]

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

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

[andibandit]

@ziggurcat

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

[chasegarcia]

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.

[ziggurcat]

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.

[givemeshelter]

@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.

[extermin8or]

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

[LoveOfTheGame]

@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?

[Neonridr]

"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.

[Deadpoolio]

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.

[Death]

Different country, different rules.

[SliceOfTruth888]

*if this was Microsoft*
ROFL XBONED another reason not to get XBOX #IheartCERNY

[christocolus]

Lmao....slice of truth

[Silly gameAr]

Who cares.

[Gekko36]

@SliceOfTruth888 Stop masturbating and tell my why??

Your comment was just Sony sexual gratification

[andibandit]

Lol no it would be:

OMG MS Decides not to pay, then pays settlement in court. 180!!!!!! ROFLCOPTER

Steve balmer breathes air...First inhales then
"EXHALES", OMZG 180!!! COPTERROFL

[Kenshin_BATT0USAI]

Um well, not to knock this, but if you apply to be an intern, you usually clarify if you're getting paid or not, BEFORE you start. Especially if it's via school.

That being said, it definitely is good he got paid.

[devwan]

Takes unpaid job to get foot on games industry career ladder then ends up making himself pretty much unemployable in said industry for the sake of a few quid.

Jarvis, go pre-order yourself 10 xbox ones, you'll even have enough left over for a McDonald's on the way home - take that, Sony!!111one

[CrossingEden]

Um, you do realize that suing for compensation for your work doesn't make you unemployable right.

[devwan]

Causing a stink, suing one of the biggest names in the industry when you went there on a no-fee basis? I'd say that's putting a big red marker on your file.

He's not going to find similar work easy to come by, paid or unpaid.

[Deadpoolio]

Actually it probably will especially when your in college and common sense in reality you do not get paid for intern work your basically doing it for either a class requirement or for the experience and college credit....Some companies will have paid internships but 90% do not pay

[Death]

Once again, different ccountry, different rules.

If he was interning at Cambridge, that is one of the studios that Sony shut down or downsized. They axed BigBig all together and then laid off at Cambridge when they downsized and turned them into a studio porting Killzone games to Vita.

We have no idea what was promised to him to keep him there for 3 months. We only know Sony settled with him instead of face him in court. Not a terribly uncommon practice and does not admit guilt on Sony's part. If he had absolutely no case though, it's less likely Sony would have settled.

Is this really a big deal?

[pyramidshead]

someone buy me £4,600 please.

[Belking]

But sony treats its customers and employees so well. They never lie and don't only care about money.... A real eye opener for some of you here. I expect another follow up to this story when this unpaid intern says that the check bounced....lol

[Irishguy95]

Pfff, this article is lying...Sony would Never do anything like this. Only **** microsoft do it.

N4Sony unite in defense!

[Silly gameAr]

Well, it's kind of like how you see a bit of negative Sony news and people like you swarm the comment section and show everyone how butthurt you guys really are. You're no different.

[scott182]

You're one to talk irishguy. You found another reason to flame a sony article. Good work.

[DinoNYC]

What an ungrateful prick. I gladly would take his position. Don't take an unpaid internship if you desperately need the pay.

[Locksus]

Whoever said that he wasn't supposed to be paid in the first place?

[ziggurcat]

read the article.

sony clarified that the internship was unpaid.

[Deadpoolio]

The FACT that in reality most internships are NOT paid, some companies do but 90% at least DO NOT pay....And had you read the article Sony did actually specify that the internship was not a paying internship

[givemeshelter]

They made him do the work of an employee with no one to supervise him. At that point Sony lost the case and decided to settle. If it's an internship then you are working under someone, not working alone as this person did. This is why Sony settled and wanted a gag order. Good for him to tell them no gag order.

[extermin8or]

Lol silly Sony they could've just had someone come by and check what he was doing every so often etc and then they'd have owed him no money? But essentially he'd have been doing the same work?

[Heartnet]

Then may i ask why you didnt apply??

I guess it takes a certain kind of person to get raped by a big corp and just take it...

It was unpaid until they made him start doing work a Paid person shoudlve been doing :)

It should be standard precedure to read the article before posting flamebait comments tbh but i guess every1 falls for it :)

[Athonline]

Unpaid internships in the first place are illegal in the UK... The law clearly states the moment you do a set tasks, during a fixed set of hours you are entitled for a salary for your work.

[AceBlazer13]

If I were him I would have asked for a more beneficial compensation idk like a job to pay off my college loans.they would have probably agreed to that just to avoid the news getting out.

[ExitToExisT]

Good luck finding a job in the game industry. Unpaid intership for 3 months is to gain experience and include it to your resume not b*tch about it cause you didn't get paid.

[ElementX]

Who would want to intern with Sony anyway? I think you'd learn more with a smaller company instead of some corporate giant.

[Irishguy95]

I dunno an Internship with a copoarate giant does look good on your CV/resume

[warewolfSS]

I wonder if he is getting a ps4 with the money?

[Klonoa-dreamtraveler]

look how thirsty xbone fanboys are lol.

[HALOisKING]

lol but i thought sony cares about there employees and customers lol for sony fanboys no company loves u

[yellowgerbil]

aren't internships for the education and experience not for the money. Like a college student doing it for credits towards graduation. At least in America it is that way, maybe different there.
Either way, I bet he is blacklisted and will never work in the game industry after something like that. Hope it was worth the 7 grand

[IcicleTrepan]

Usually technical internships are for pay.

[mav805]

Yeah, he should have been happy with the feather in his cap on his resume. Next time somebody wants an internship with Sony, they'll just be like, "nah, we don't need to be paying for your inexperienced work."

[Heartnet]

Im sure they let go all their unpaid interns and will never hire one ever again cuz a multi billion dollar company had to pay out 4 grand....

[No_Limit]

"Unpaid Intern Sued Sony and Awarded £4,600"

Ok, which one of you here on N4G was awarded £4,600?? J/K :)

[kenshiro100]

I detest unpaid internships. Yes you get experience but you should get some kind of a stipend too.

[JohnS1313]

Big deal. They don't have to take the job. It's for experience only. You get to put it on your resume. If I was him I'd be ready for that to hurt my resume.

[kenshiro100]

I did an unpaid internship for a Congressman. It was good experience but I wish there was a stipend. It seems no one takes account of the train fare or car fare you spend to get there.

[Enigma_2099]

So lemme guess. This incident in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire NW of London, England is supposed to reflect badly on Sony as a whole, right?

Good he was paid what he was owed, but just felt like pointing that out.

[JohnS1313]

What kind of retard would award an intern anything? Interns AREN'T paid. They get experience. That's the only reason they get the job.

[annus]

Some interns get paid, and if this guy didn't deserve any money he sure as shit wouldn't have been given the money.

[givemeshelter]

Every one is missing the point here and why Sony lawyers settled so quickly.

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.
Sony had no legs to stand on with this lawsuit, moreover wanted to have this lawsuit not made public....

[DiLeCtioN]

Clear your bills mate ;)

[cesuf]

There are paid and unpaid internships. Just depends on which one it was. Google it.

http://www.internmatch.com/...

[NYShotgun05]

Why is this news again?