Earlier this week, animation workers settled a $100 million lawsuit against Disney, Pixar and LucasFilm for a wage fixing conspiracy that dates back to the 1980's. The claim was that the defendants in the case had conspired to violate anti-trust laws that related to wage fixing through what is known as anti-poaching agreements. A hearing on the Disney settlement is scheduled for March 9 in San Jose.
Disney was the last defendant in line after over two years of suits and litigation. Previously, in 2014, the suits began against Dreamworks Animation as well as Imagemovers Digital. The claimants, earlier this past month, received a $50 million award from the court against Dreamworks Animation as well as a $13 million judgement against Sony Imageworks and nearly $6 million against Blue Sky.
The animation workers have pressed their suits over what they believed started back in the 1980's when Pixar and George Lucas came to an agreement not to try and poach employees from one another. Other companies soon joined in on the collusion and the claimants pressed their case for a conspiracy regarding cold calling and wage fixing during negotiations between a worker and a particular company. The visual effects and animation professionals working at various companies between 2004-2010 were the most affected by the decisions.
The litigation in these particular matters seems to stem from litigation initiated by the United States Justice Department back in 2010 which involved companies that had agreed not to fix wages for a initial period of five years, The companies involved in that collusion were Google, Adobe, Intel, Apple, LucasFilm, Intuit and Pixar.
Between 2013 and 2015, all of the companies settled the wage fixing allegations in the total range of $400 million.
BROADCAST BEAT is the Official Producer of NAB Show LIVE for the 2017 NAB Show in Las Vegas. In 2016, our broadcast had 1.3 million viewers! For the most in-depth coverage of the show as well as insightful and exclusive interviews... Be sure to tune in at broadcastbeat.comINDUSTRY NEWS2 min read
Animation Workers Settle $100 Million Suit With Pixar, LucasFilm and Disney
Broadcast Beat
Contributor
Earlier this week, animation workers settled a $100 million lawsuit against Disney, Pixar and LucasFilm for a wage fixing conspiracy that dates back to the 1980's. The claim was that the defendants in the case had conspired to violate anti-trust laws that related to wage fixing through what is known as anti-poaching agreements. A hearing on the Disney settlement is scheduled for March 9 in San Jose.
Disney was the last defendant in line after over two years of suits and litigation. Previously, in 2014, the suits began against Dreamworks Animation as well as Imagemovers Digital. The claimants, earlier this past month, received a $50 million award from the court against Dreamworks Animation as well as a $13 million judgement against Sony Imageworks and nearly $6 million against Blue Sky.
The animation workers have pressed their suits over what they believed started back in the 1980's when Pixar and George Lucas came to an agreement not to try and poach employees from one another. Other companies soon joined in on the collusion and the claimants pressed their case for a conspiracy regarding cold calling and wage fixing during negotiations between a worker and a particular company. The visual effects and animation professionals working at various companies between 2004-2010 were the most affected by the decisions.
The litigation in these particular matters seems to stem from litigation initiated by the United States Justice Department back in 2010 which involved companies that had agreed not to fix wages for a initial period of five years, The companies involved in that collusion were Google, Adobe, Intel, Apple, LucasFilm, Intuit and Pixar.
Between 2013 and 2015, all of the companies settled the wage fixing allegations in the total range of $400 million.
BROADCAST BEAT is the Official Producer of NAB Show LIVE for the 2017 NAB Show in Las Vegas. In 2016, our broadcast had 1.3 million viewers! For the most in-depth coverage of the show as well as insightful and exclusive interviews... Be sure to tune in at broadcastbeat.comFound this article useful?