WotC Being Sued By Magic: the Gathering Judges

Wizards of the Coast, which, as you likely know, produces the enormous collectible card game Magic: The Gathering (as well as RPGs like D&D) is on the end of a class action lawsuit filed by a small group of M:tG judges (Adam Shaw, Peter Golightly, Justin Turner, and Joshua Stansfield). The suit alleges that WotC failed to pay minimum wage, provide meal or rest breaks, reimburse business expenses, maintain accurate payroll records, and more. M:tG judges are volunteers, but the filing appears to allege that the degree of supervision and control exercised by WotC was enough to create an employer-employee relationship instead. The M:tG judges are demanding a jury trial.

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[Obryn]

I agree that MtG judges do enough work to deserve at least minimum wage, but they literally volunteered for this job knowing that they wouldn't be paid. Easy solution: If you want to be paid for your work, don't volunteer to do it for free. This is why I chose not to become a Magic judge when I was 17, and also why I chose not to take volunteer jobs that would "look good on my resume" after I graduated college.

I'm not a legal expert, but it seems to me a strike would be more appropriate.

A for-profit company cannot replace their employees with volunteers. If they are using volunteers in a capacity that should be filled by employees, they are in the wrong.

If you love a restaurant, you can't volunteer to wait tables for them in exchange for a free meal. Why not? Because the restaurant is a business, and businesses need to follow some pretty strict laws regarding their workforce. Some of those laws protect the employees, some the business, and some the customers.

By the same token, those unpaid 'volunteer' resume-building jobs have largely become paid positions over the past years. I know my own company no longer has any unpaid interns.

These were not entered in as a means to pay the bills and support oneself. These are optional activities that people went out of their way to get to participate in. Remember, these judges had all sorts of hoops to jump through in order to be able to participate.

Sure, maybe they aren't volunteers, maybe they should have been treated better. Maybe they are employees. The lawyers can figure that out, this board is really not the place to debate such things as few if any of us are lawyers. What is worth discussing (in this forum), IMO, are a couple of things; 1) implications of this lawsuit on the gaming (esp. MtG) community, 2) the moral aspects of such a lawsuit.

In regards to #1. I've got nothing new to add, not until this plays out some more.

With #2, I still don't see any reason to change my opinion that these judges are morally wrong. They willingly engaged time and time again in optional activities that their is no reasonable expectation that they had any financial need in which to do so. And now, after having done so repeatable over many years they have decided they were treated unfairly. And rather than be mature and take some responsibility for their own decisions (which admittedly may have put them in unfair situations in the past). They have sought legal action.

So, anyone care to propose a moral reasoning why legal action is justified?

If these particular judges didn't know anything about the legal intricacies of volunteer work and later found out that they were basically unpaid employees and deserved a wage, then I can't possibly see anything morally wrong with seeking legal remedy now that they are no longer ignorant.

I am not ignoring your comment on my post, I just realized this might not be the best forum for discussing why such laws exist and why they are not necessarily rational or right. Suffice it to say; I am sure we can all agree that many laws exist and have existed in the past that are unethical and just plain wrong, and that legality is in no way is equated with morality.

I really shouldn't have responded to the thread in the first place in retrospect, I just let my distaste for these types of unethical actions under the guise of the "legality" get the better of me.

What's unethical about realizing you've been taken advantage of?

I mean if we're talking ethics, how about the ethics of a subsidiary of Hasbro - not exactly a mom & pop operation - trying to cut costs by conning the people who love their products into doing the work of employees and not paying them for it.

 

[MechaPilot]

If you love a restaurant, you can't volunteer to wait tables for them in exchange for a free meal. Why not? Because the restaurant is a business, and businesses need to follow some pretty strict laws regarding their workforce. Some of those laws protect the employees, some the business, and some the customers.

Also, the meal would not be free even if they charged you nothing for it. Getting a free meal in exchange for waiting tables is clearly gross income under 26 U.S.C. section 61(a) and the supporting Treasury regulations in the C.F.R. That means you'd probably have to pay income tax on that meal, depending on what tax bracket you fall into. Even at the 10% rate, you'd be paying almost double the state sales tax rate (at least in the state I live in).

Plus, depending on the value of the meal and how long you waited tables to get that one meal the restaurant in question could still be in violation of applicable state and federal minimum wage laws. And that doesn't even touch the laws regarding Social Security and Medicare withholding and the 100% trust fund penalty for failure to pay the withholding to the I.R.S.

 

[happyhermit]

What's unethical about realizing you've been taken advantage of?

Nothing whatsoever, and that seems like a very disingenuous question. I find it hard to believe that you could actually believe that I was considering the act of "realizing" they have been taken advantage of (whether or not that is true in any way) to be the unethical act.

I mean if we're talking ethics, how about the ethics of a subsidiary of Hasbro - not exactly a mom & pop operation - trying to cut costs by conning the people who love their products into doing the work of employees and not paying them for it.

The fact that you brought the size of the party in question into the question of ethics as a qualifier makes it pretty clear we aren't going to reach the same conclusions.

Still, Conning? Were the judges promised things that were never delivered, what kind of "con" are you suggesting?

 

[Obryn]

Nothing whatsoever, and that seems like a very disingenuous question. I find it hard to believe that you could actually believe that I was considering the act of "realizing" they have been taken advantage of (whether or not that is true in any way) to be the unethical act.

Then you're making a weird conclusion that filing a lawsuit against an employer that has taken advantage of you is unethical?

The fact that you brought the size of the party in question into the question of ethics as a qualifier makes it pretty clear we aren't going to reach the same conclusions.

Still, Conning? Were the judges promised things that were never delivered, what kind of "con" are you suggesting?

The size does matter for one very big reason: They knew better. A legal team that big? At some point someone made a decision not to pay them a wage.

And the con comes in when they convince a legally naive group to do the job of an employee for free by taking advantage of their enthusiasm for the game. The problem isn't that that they didn't get what was promised - I'm sure they did. The problem is that they they didn't promise legal forms of compensation for work.

 

[DaveMage]

The are not asking for a raise, they are asking for compensation for "work" they did years ago, and that they continued to do time and time again under conditions that they are NOW saying was unfair.

IANAL (and one can weigh in on this), but it's my understanding that the law trumps a contract anytime. So even if you agree to do something under a certain set of circumstances, if those circumstances are illegal, it doesn't matter if you agreed to it or not - you are still subject to the law.

 

[RotGrub]

And the con comes in when they convince a legally naive group to do the job of an employee for free by taking advantage of their enthusiasm for the game.

Yes, the gaming industry is notorious for that. Play testers and game developers are exploited in a similar fashion, but at least they are payed a low wage most of the time.

 

[Gorefiend]

I have been myself a high level MTG judge for several years, judging events in Japan, US and Europe. I know several of the people in this action.

Most of them could almost been considered as professional judges, not only because they judged high level events (profesionnal events, continental and world championships) but also of their work outside "floor judging". High level judges are required to be leaders, teachers and for some of them, active workers on the policies that judges are to enforce. This part of the job is not even taken into consideration in this class action.

I have myself been paid with shiny cards that I was able to sell for several hundreds of $ just 5 minutes after receiving them.

My worst tournament had the following schedule :
Friday : I helped for the set-up of the venue, the computer configuration and I took registration of players from 6PM to 10PM.
Saturday : Arrived at the venue at 7AM for pre-event meeting. I was the Scorekeeper of the event at this time, registering all results and providing pairing of the new rounds ... We faced several computer issues during the day and the tournament finished at 2AM in the morning. During this time, all judges worked on the complete duration (no shift at this time) with at most 1 real break for 19 hours. Personnaly I had additional works after the tournament ending for the day, I got to my hotel room at 5AM to wake up at 7AM.
Sunday : Arrived at the venue at 8AM, day was long again and the finals completed at 11PM. Some clean-up later and debriefing, it was 1AM.

It was an awful schedule, and I was quite lucky to be sitting behind a desk. Friends of mine were not that lucky.

I have been paid 12 boxes of product, that was worth of 12 * $90 at this time plus $200 worth of limited magic judge cards. I was one of the most fairly paid (most of the judges got 3 or 4 boxes).

I think not one judge who has ever work on a Grand Prix will tell you that he/she was a "volunteer".

But why the class action? Because of WotC. WotC management of the judges is garbage. It is toughier to become a judge than getting a basic job, the requirements are hard, especially if you want to progress in the hierarchy. But you don't have anyn contract with WotC, if at any point you express an opinion that WotC disapproves you may be terminated of your judge certification.
A close friend of mine was at the top level of the judge community (Level 5, max level). He disapproved some policies that were worked on at this time. At some point he expressed publicly his disagreement. Within 24h, he received an email entitled "Welcome to Level 0".
This way of treating judges is quite common for them, and they have years of HR managment to demote people disagrreing with them.

Guess what, I think all of the plaintiffs here have been treated this way (for some I know for sure, but I don't know all of them). So this is basic grudge and revenge. Is this moral?
Perhaps not, they were part of the system and probably managed to profit from it. But then WotC screws you. I think that's fair to try to screw them.

Regards.
PS: english is not my native language, forgive my spelling and/or my grammar

 

[Obryn]

IANAL (and one can weigh in on this), but it's my understanding that the law trumps a contract anytime. So even if you agree to do something under a certain set of circumstances, if those circumstances are illegal, it doesn't matter if you agreed to it or not - you are still subject to the law.

I am also not a lawyer, but from my understanding this is correct - an illegal contract is not enforceable.

Yes, the gaming industry is notorious for that. Play testers and game developers are exploited in a similar fashion, but at least they are payed a low wage most of the time.

You know, I am actually fairly sure playtesting would not hit the level of 'employment'. I may be wrong about this, but something like the 5e Playtest is very different from the sorts of judging experiences that Gorefiend, below, relates.

I could be wrong, mind you, but that's at least my hunch.

But yes, we gamers sure are an enthusiastic fanbase, ready and willing to help companies we love for free. It's up to those RPG companies not to take advantage.

I have been myself a high level MTG judge for several years, judging events in Japan, US and Europe. I know several of the people in this action.

Most of them could almost been considered as professional judges, not only because they judged high level events (profesionnal events, continental and world championships) but also of their work outside "floor judging". High level judges are required to be leaders, teachers and for some of them, active workers on the policies that judges are to enforce. This part of the job is not even taken into consideration in this class action.

I have myself been paid with shiny cards that I was able to sell for several hundreds of $ just 5 minutes after receiving them.

My worst tournament had the following schedule :
Friday : I helped for the set-up of the venue, the computer configuration and I took registration of players from 6PM to 10PM.
Saturday : Arrived at the venue at 7AM for pre-event meeting. I was the Scorekeeper of the event at this time, registering all results and providing pairing of the new rounds ... We faced several computer issues during the day and the tournament finished at 2AM in the morning. During this time, all judges worked on the complete duration (no shift at this time) with at most 1 real break for 19 hours. Personnaly I had additional works after the tournament ending for the day, I got to my hotel room at 5AM to wake up at 7AM.
Sunday : Arrived at the venue at 8AM, day was long again and the finals completed at 11PM. Some clean-up later and debriefing, it was 1AM.

It was an awful schedule, and I was quite lucky to be sitting behind a desk. Friends of mine were not that lucky.

I have been paid 12 boxes of product, that was worth of 12 * $90 at this time plus $200 worth of limited magic judge cards. I was one of the most fairly paid (most of the judges got 3 or 4 boxes).

I think not one judge who has ever work on a Grand Prix will tell you that he/she was a "volunteer".

But why the class action? Because of WotC. WotC management of the judges is garbage. It is toughier to become a judge than getting a basic job, the requirements are hard, especially if you want to progress in the hierarchy. But you don't have anyn contract with WotC, if at any point you express an opinion that WotC disapproves you may be terminated of your judge certification.
A close friend of mine was at the top level of the judge community (Level 5, max level). He disapproved some policies that were worked on at this time. At some point he expressed publicly his disagreement. Within 24h, he received an email entitled "Welcome to Level 0".
This way of treating judges is quite common for them, and they have years of HR managment to demote people disagrreing with them.

Guess what, I think all of the plaintiffs here have been treated this way (for some I know for sure, but I don't know all of them). So this is basic grudge and revenge. Is this moral?
Perhaps not, they were part of the system and probably managed to profit from it. But then WotC screws you. I think that's fair to try to screw them.

Regards.
PS: english is not my native language, forgive my spelling and/or my grammar

No, you wrote very clearly.

Thanks for sharing your experiences. And yes, I think even under pretty lax standards, this would stretch the definition of "volunteer."

 

[RotGrub]

I am also not a lawyer, but from my understanding this is correct - an illegal contract is not enforceable.


You know, I am actually fairly sure playtesting would not hit the level of 'employment'. I may be wrong about this, but something like the 5e Playtest is very different from the sorts of judging experiences that Gorefiend, below, relates.

I could be wrong, mind you, but that's at least my hunch.

But yes, we gamers sure are an enthusiastic fanbase, ready and willing to help companies we love for free. It's up to those RPG companies not to take advantage.

Well look at the video game industry. I know that many software developers stay clear of game programming out of fear their enthusiasm will be exploited and result in long hours at a diminished salary. Even play testers spend a huge amount of time, usually even more than the designers themselves do, and get paid next to nothing for it.

Given that most large companies typically overreact to legal concerns, it all makes me wonder if a lawsuit like this could force WotC's lawyers to clamp down on unpaid playtesting

 

[happyhermit]

Then you're making a weird conclusion that filing a lawsuit against an employer that has taken advantage of you is unethical?

Fine, my conclusion is "weird", couldn't possibly be based on anything.

The size does matter for one very big reason: They knew better. A legal team that big? At some point someone made a decision not to pay them a wage.

See, that is completely illogical, even if their legal team allowed them to know that some legality was being broken that doesn't change the ethics. Following the law does not mean making the ethical decision, often the opposite has been true.

And the con comes in when they convince a legally naive group to do the job of an employee for free by taking advantage of their enthusiasm for the game. The problem isn't that that they didn't get what was promised - I'm sure they did. The problem is that they they didn't promise legal forms of compensation for work.

No deception or broken promises, strange definition of a con. You know what sounds more like a con.

I volunteer to do something for you.
I establish an ongoing relationship.
I sue you for not paying me.

But... the law says... whatever, the laws an ass.