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Sorwah
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 Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 8:17 am Post subject: Lawsuit against Tecmo. |
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Made this thread to combine the two other threads into one. Any news you find on the Tecmo/Team NINJA/ Itagaki Lawsuit feel free to put it here. The other two topics will be locked.
I'll start this one off.
| Kotaku wrote: |
Things are going from bad to worse for Tecmo. First Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki announced he was leaving and suing Tecmo, while a totally separate lawsuit has been filed against Tecmo by Hiroaki Ozawa and co-plaintiff Tatsuki Tsunoda. Ozawa is the Tecmo Labor Union leader and Ninja Gaiden 2 lead engineer, while Tsunoda is the Ninja Gaiden 2 level design lead. Two key Team Ninja members! That alone does not bode well for Tecmo. But, this isn't just a story of two guys trying to get some overtime, but also apparently of deception, falsified statements and a dead, beloved company president. There's concrete evidence in the plaintiff's claims — so concrete that it could very well be the silver bullet for Tecmo's current upper management.
Ozawa and Tsunoda both filed their suit this past Monday. According to the suit, the workers were illegally placed on a "flexible hours" work scheme where overtime was not paid. Because of this dubious employment structure, overtime for the employees exceeded over 100 hours per month in unpaid overtime. Along with the lawsuit, they provided hard evidence to prove that Tecmo's actions were unethical and illegal.
The following day, Ozawa clarified their lawsuit with Japanese website IT Media, explaining what it means for the entire company: "There are only two employees bringing this suit, but our accusations encompass all 300 employees, and if Tecmo doesn't immediately address the issue and correct the problem, we are ready to start a second and a third class action suit." Hiroaki Ozawa is an official representative of the labor union, having been elected with a majority vote from amongst the 300 employees. That's why, when he says that he is prepared for a 2nd or 3rd wave of class-action suits, you can take him seriously — he has been voted in by a majority of Tecmo employees.
If the claims made in this suit are indeed fact, how much has Tecmo exploited its 300 employees for over these two years. After Team Ninja member Ozawa was fairly elected as the head of the Tecmo Labor Union this past February, made it his first priority to right these wrongs, thus the reason why the employees' lawsuit was filed. (The previous Tecmo Union Head was never elected and in management — despite the majority of Tecmo's employees being in R&D.)
The evidence the plaintiffs submitted in their suit seems to indicate that Yoshimi Yasuda, president of Tecmo Co. Ltd., falsified contracts relating to overtime work, illegally withholding payment of wages to 300 employees over the course of the past 2 years. Before Ozawa was elected democratically by Tecmo employees, a figurehead Tecmo Union leader was in place, pushing through measures that employees did not agree to and did not have a voice in. Measures like the overtime and flex time "agreements". Despite Yasuda’s direct involvement with this deception, he attempted to shift responsibility by claiming that this was the fault of the founder and former chairman of Tecmo, now deceased, stating he was told not to hold an election and just pick someone to head the Tecmo Labor Union. The leaders of the labor union who discovered this impropriety have filed suit. They are seeking damages of approximately 4,160,000 yen each.But what is the crux of their argument? How much water does it hold? The answer: A lot, it seems. And this case might be more open-and-closed that Tecmo is ready to admit.
Let's have a look at the actual evidence submitted by plaintiffs Ozawa and Tsunoda:
Above, is a document from last year where the figurehead Tecmo Union leader signed an overtime work "agreement" claiming to represent all employees. It even says "chosen by popular vote" at the bottom in Japanese, which is circled. (There was no vote, apparently.) This figurehead exec's name hasn't been make public, and it is grayed out in the document. It does say his position though in Japanese: 経営管理部 経理課 係長, which basically means a low-level management exec. Not exactly the kind of guy 250+ R&D employees would choose to represent them. Link here.
Here is another document is similar, but for the so-called "flex-time" agreement. The aim in Japanese employment law for the "flex-time" rule it to allow employees to work non-standard hours freely. However, Tecmo stands accused of using it as an excuse not to pay overtime to workers. It was signed by the same figurehead, therefore the suit claims it is invalid. Link here.
This document is from this spring, after Ozawa had finally be elected by a democratic Tecmo staff vote, replacing the figurehead. This is a statement from Tecmo's president, Yoshimi Yasuda, in response to several queries made by Ozawa and the Tecmo Labor Union and is in response to the labor unions request for information on why a low-level management guy was made labor union head without an election. Yasuda claims that the owner of the company, now deceased, told him before his death that he should "just pick someone in management and make him the labor representative."
This document is important in two ways:
1. It backs up the claim that there was no election.
2. It shows that Yasuda is trying to dodge responsibility by blaming the beloved founder of Tecmo, now deceased.
Note: Tecmo released an English language press release yesterday which reads: "There are several inaccurate reports stating that all 300 company employees are named in the lawsuit and the company would like to clarify that only two employees are involved in the suit." Tecmo is correct, only two employees are actually named as plaintiffs in the suit, but how many do they represent. As Kotaku originally posted, "The plaintiffs represent all 300 Tecmo employees and contest that because of this dubious employment structure, overtime for the employees exceeded over 100 hours per month in unpaid overtime." |
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Kryss
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| Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 12:23 pm Post subject: |
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Tecmo's response:
| Quote: |
Following an initial statement after the departure of Itagaki, Tecmo had maintained a "no comment" on the following reports, but today it chose to break its silence with a statement released to the media.
First, Tecmo states that it is simply not true that "dozens" of development staff are resigning following Itagaki's exit, and that it isn't true that they are all suing the company. The statement reads, "The rumours are false and no such action is taking place at the company."
Earlier this week, various Japanese Web sites reported that two employees representing the entire 300-person Tecmo staff had filed a lawsuit against the company for not paying overtime. According to Tecmo, "Although a lawsuit was filed by the two employees, on April 1, 2008, Tecmo did notify all affected employees that they would be appropriately compensated, and is currently in the process of solving the matter. There are several inaccurate reports stating that all 300 company employees are named in the lawsuit, and the company would like to clarify that only two employees are involved in the suit."
It also rebuffed claims that it withheld information from shareholders regarding Itagaki's lawsuit, which was filed in May. According to Tecmo, "The company has observed the provisions defined by the [Tokyo Stock] Exchange and has released information accordingly and in a timely manner."
It concludes, "It is unfortunate that false and inaccurate reporting of our organisation and employees' actions have caused some unrest among our development staff members. Tecmo would like to assure its partners and loyal fans that its teams continue to focus and work on several projects to be released and announced in the future." |
From Gamespot.
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MegaAnthony
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| Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 1:30 pm Post subject: |
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Thank God!
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N0rdic Ninja
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| Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 1:39 pm Post subject: |
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Bj0rn to play DOA! |
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Game Over
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| Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 1:52 pm Post subject: |
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Jerk
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| Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 5:03 pm Post subject: |
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I still sense a bit of reluctance to except . . . the truth . . . I wonder why that is?
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Sorwah
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| Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 5:46 pm Post subject: |
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| Kryss wrote: |
Tecmo's response:
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It is true that dozens aren't resigning. Dozens voted in a Labor Union Leader, and are awaiting his word. If Tecmo doesn't pay up back-dues then the suit will grow to a class-action suit. No one is mentioned or resigning. It's just 300 people are ticked off they haven't been paid their overtime for the past two years, and are looking to sue the company.
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Game Over
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| Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 5:56 pm Post subject: |
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| This'll likely end like many other company shenanigans . . . quiet "settlement" out of court, Itagaki will still be gone. |
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Altherix
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| Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 9:28 am Post subject: |
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So, basically this isn't as bad as the Titanic with "Temco" slapped on it image the front page of this site has?
From what I've gathered this is it in summary:
The founder of Tecmo now deceased "Supposively" told Yoshimi Yasuda (Presidnt of Tecmo) not to have a Labor Union representative elected and just pick someone. Yoshimi, picked someone in a low-level management posistion to fill the spot. (Very odd)
This was in violation of the Labor Union that always wanted the representative to be elected. It took till this past Febuary for Hiroaki Ozawa to be voted as the Labor Union representative and depose the person picked by Yoshimi Yasuda.
Hiroaki Ozawa and Tatsuki Tsunoda have both filed suit against Tecmo for the crap that was put in place from the person picked by Yoshimi Yasuda. They have both promised more suits to follow if their grievances are not met from this first suit.
So.
Yoshimi Yasuda, needs to either resign as president of Tecmo or needs to be booted from Tecmo as it sounds to me this is pretty much his fault for this whole matter.
Also, all employees need to recieve their unpaid bonuses/overtime the company has withheld from them.
Have to see what happens, but Itagaki's resign statement that he can't work with the president of Tecmo, I wonder if this has all been planned by the employees to get rid of Yoshimi Yasuda?
IE; if Yoshimi Yasuda leaves or gets booted by the shareholders, (It's about the same thing) you might just see Itagaki return to Tecmo.
Yes, it could just be settle out of court but honestly if Yoshimi Yasuda IS responsible for this whole mess who's to say he won't try to pull the same crap in the future and make more employees leave the company in disgust? |
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XxRed dragonxX
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mebouncy
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| Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 3:35 am Post subject: |
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| I sense a coup. What if this was all planned from the get go to get the Tecmo Prez out of office. |
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MegaAnthony
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| Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 12:19 pm Post subject: |
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We still have Team Ninja so thats good enough(I think)
Let's just wait for E3 and by then Tecmo will probably be back on their feet again.
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Gren Kuts
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| Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 12:54 pm Post subject: |
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Itagaki's an asshole. Look what he did. All he had to do was not have a big mouth and handle things professionally from the inside. Instead, he had to blurt it out and act like it was his personal journey towards saving his fellow comrades or something by exposing Tecmo, the EVUL CORPURATION, to everyone in the working world.
Now DoA and Ninja Gaiden could possibly be screwed. Whatta dick.
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Raansu
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| Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 5:14 pm Post subject: |
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I personally think this stunt just saved NG and DoA. DoA5 will be leagues better then doa4.1. Maybe now we wont have Itagakis garbage mindset and maybe we will see doa3.1 elements come back.
I still say Itagaki had nothing to do with doa3.1 xD
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Berzerk!
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| Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 8:18 am Post subject: |
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And the reality is you still have no idea, while all we actually know point to him being involved more heavily than any other known staff member in DOA.
We really can only wait and see |
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MegaAnthony
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| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 3:50 pm Post subject: |
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This can also mean Tecmo may listen to fans more now that the main man is gone.
I remember reading an interview Itagaki had just before we found out that he's leaving and suing Tecmo that we would find out more about Dead Or Alive 5 at E3 seriously,could be a trailer could be some basic info who knows but in my opinion I think after this has settled everthin will be back on it's feet.
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XDOUBLEX
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| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 4:57 pm Post subject: |
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yes!
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Nasty Note
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| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 5:26 pm Post subject: |
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| Gren Kuts wrote: |
Itagaki's an asshole. Look what he did. All he had to do was not have a big mouth and handle things professionally from the inside. Instead, he had to blurt it out and act like it was his personal journey towards saving his fellow comrades or something by exposing Tecmo, the EVUL CORPURATION, to everyone in the working world.
Now DoA and Ninja Gaiden could possibly be screwed. Whatta dick. |
Gren Kut's an asshole. Look at him. All he has to do is shut his big mouth and handle his comments professionally. Instead, he has to blurt out insults towards the guy who made the game and felt like it was his personal journey towards saving Dead or Alive or something by exposing Itagaki, the EVUL PRDUCUR, to everyone at DOAcentral.
Whatta dick. |
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Kasumi Chan PMS
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| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 5:29 pm Post subject: |
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Rofl.^
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MegaAnthony
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| Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 5:16 am Post subject: |
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Today is the first of July,Itagaki and Tecmo workin together stops today.
Now,we have to see Team Ninjas capabilities without Itagaki,and E3 will show us
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Destined Dreams™
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| Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 7:57 am Post subject: |
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| MegaAnthony wrote: |
Today is the first of July,Itagaki and Tecmo workin together stops today.
Now,we have to see Team Ninjas capabilities without Itagaki,and E3 will show us |
hopefully there good
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D Glock
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Kryss
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| Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 12:58 pm Post subject: |
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And the plot thickens. . .
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kicksluvme904
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| Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 1:02 pm Post subject: |
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and the plot thinkens.
seems like Itagki is about to get P-A-I-D. But makes me think.
what about everyone else whos still entitled to the bonus?
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HighGuy
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| Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 1:40 pm Post subject: |
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for ppl who play the crap outta itagakis games u guys sure bash him alot. raansu if the games so garbage how come i can consistantly beat u? if it reaaly was as bad as u say thered b 0 consistancy
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