Don't hire a contractor when your company literally doesn't have the money to pay them for more than a week.
Piss poor.
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Telltale Hired Employees Less Than A Week Before Going Under
- Thread starter Deleted member 1258
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Don't hire a contractor when your company literally doesn't have the money to pay them for more than a week.
Piss poor.
Contractors typically don't get benefits. The contractors at my company sometimes get paid more, and have a set contract duration which gives them a bit more security I guess, but have to get their own health insurance, have no 401K/pension, ect...
In Canada, Ontario specifically, I've worked on contract and have qualified for ei. Hell, in the multiple choice section for reasons for applying it straight up has "end of contract employment". As long as your honest and get the number of hours, you're good
I worked as a contractor in a different industry seasonally and could collect..
In germany you get at least a 30 day notice and u wont lose health insurance and even as a contractor u can file for unemployment.
Contractors who worked for TT through an employment agency should still be able to get unemployment since their employer is technically the employment agency. If your paycheck is coming from the agency and not TT, then you can file for unemployment.
I have done this through California's "Employment Development Department" when I was let go from a contracting position. I am not sure how it will work for people who didn't work for long in California though. It won't work for a person who is an independent contractor though.
I have done this through California's "Employment Development Department" when I was let go from a contracting position. I am not sure how it will work for people who didn't work for long in California though. It won't work for a person who is an independent contractor though.
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Less protections don't mean no protections. The reality is most people don't know their rights or what the federal and state laws actually are. And the reality is many, many US freelancers and contractors are misclassified employees in the eyes of the law.
The DOL and IRS are investigating and prosecuting these cases all the time. If you think you were doing work that essentially an employee would/should be doing under the same circumtances they are/were it's probably worth looking into and contacting these agencies. People think the US is the wild west but it really isn't and companies only get away with this because we let them.
Because the USA protect their guns more than their workers.
It's a terrible situation, I'm deeply saddened for those poor devs who relocated to be fired the following week.
both of those are countries with a strong labor movement. capital in america has been hell bent on destroying any sense of class consciousness for the last century, and the country being founded on the idea of property rights above all gives them a great deal of power to do so.
Assuming that upper management weren't keeping everything secret from the rest of the company about the financial health of the company, then it's very likely a deal(loan repayment for example) that would likely kept the company afloat fell through.
Ah, okay. ICs are a different story. Doesn't change what TT did to their actual employees though.
Wait, what? Telltale went under? When did that happen?
And WTF at the stuff in the op, who does that shit?
And WTF at the stuff in the op, who does that shit?
If they are Independent Contractors, and file taxes as such, I don't believe EI applies to them in America as they aren't paying into it.
The last line isn't really true. That means they are contractors. As long as huge past of the company isn't contractors this seems justified.
And win what? The company is broke. They dont even own any significant ips.
Presumably the loss of their Netflix funding was very sudden, and they imploded immediately upon losing it.
I'm guessing they had no meaningful cash reserves or other funding avenues, and were effectively 100% dependent on Netflix to make payroll.
Not the same. They are basically independent "businesses" and they get paid more than typically employees to compensate for lack of healthcare etc.
That's ridiculous, I don't know what they signed or exactly what the laws are around this stuff but I would start calling my lawyer, especially if they had me relocate and acted like things were fine. Sorry to everyone affected.
I'm like 90% sure that it's law in Canada that you need to pay into ei. I know someone that has a small contractor business with just two other employees, since he pays them on the up and up he pays into ei
same here, got the qualifications, saw how bad the indutry treats staff, Software Dev is a lot better, higher wages & Security
Jesus, games unionization can't come quick enough. Until it's the standard though, the specific individuals responsible for this should be made unable to get a job in games without people knowing what they did to their employees. Live with that shame, you know, and let it hinder them.
Personally, this is just me, I would have avoided hiring people who would have to relocate if you can't be sure your company will stay above water over the next few months.
Dickbags.
Dickbags.
Capitalism is fine, it just needs to be controlled and not let to run free of any rules and regulations. Including making sure workers have strong rights. Europe has a much nicer balance. But apparently that makes us a socialist hellhole?
Even if they were contractors instead of employees it is pretty scummy to hire them about a week before they knew they were going under.
As a US freelancer you still pay taxes and if you're actually a misclassified employee you're still entitled to unemployment even if your "client" wasn't paying into it.
People learn your rights.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/blog.f.../freelance-independent-contractor-rights/amp/
This is not super rare. Seen this happen before even at bigger more established companies. Studio may not shut down but projects are cancelled and people who just arrived let go. Usually hiring freezes don't go into effect until post layoffs. Hiring is on a different rhythm of business is my only explanation, meaning business decisions falling thru around funding which seems to have happened here will be kept to only a few people knowing while they scramble. Recruiting and hiring and most others at the company will have no idea.
Seen this happen a few times even at bigger companies. People move only to have their role eliminated in less than a month or two.
Seen this happen a few times even at bigger companies. People move only to have their role eliminated in less than a month or two.
I had a cousin (2nd luckily) who had 100s of millions and is now sitting in prison; he would do stuff like this all the time for construction projects, although he'd always get them from out of country I assumed to avoid liability and for cheap labor. It was pretty messed up though, entire families changed countries after he'd promise them long term work only to cut them off after 2 months, and they'd never have a legal ground to stand on. Dude was evil, he enjoyed it. Idk how it all worked out but 30 years later and he is in prison for avoiding taxes not that, so yeah -_-
Maybe the laws would treat American citizens a little differently, I'm sure they can at least give them a huge headache, but idk. Clearly highly unethical, dunno if it is highly illegal but they should report
In most of the EU you can be fired (or quit) at will during your probationary period with no notice, which an employee of less than a week almost certainly is
And that's why I always say that development studios are no different than publishers. All of them are companies but people act like developers aren't made in the same way and structure of any other company.
On topic, this just shows how Telltale was mismanaged if they hired contractors knowing that the company wasn't going to survive.
On topic, this just shows how Telltale was mismanaged if they hired contractors knowing that the company wasn't going to survive.