GameStop sued by Louisiana store managers

[CheapyD]

http://www.joystiq.com/2006/08/11/gamestop-sued-by-louisiana-store-managers/
Six Louisiana GameStop managers have filed a collective law suit against the company, declaring that they have been wrongfully denied overtime pay.

[Kuros]

I was finally waiting for this to happen. My previous manager was working 55-60 work weeks with no overtime pay during the holiday season. Finally he got pissed off and demanded his overtime. After that the DM tried to find anyway to fire him, which he did.

GS has honestly gone to shit even more as a corporation since they aquired EB.

They have very little competition in the the gaming speciality store market. I'm sure if GC and GR went out of business, someone would most likely sue because of monopolistic reasons.

[GuilewasNK]

I can so relate to this. It's why I left my last job. When they finally caved and paid some overtime they cut my hours the next week. If I had the money I probably would have gone to court but I just had to leave. I couldn't take that shit anymore.

[Roufuss]

They have very little competition in the the gaming speciality store market. I'm sure if GC and GR went out of business, someone would most likely sue because of monopolistic reasons.

If Best Buy would just go nationwide with it's trade-in program and used games section, EB / GS would be in a world of trouble.

I really wish EB / GS would go back to carrying games for ALL systems and not just the top 5 or 6, but this will never happen again. I'd stop into EB / GS alot more if they had older games.

[dberuvides]

I remember working at GS years ago. It was absolute hell. My manager was told by the DM to falsify the timesheets so no one would get paid for after 40hr/week. The state mandated 15 minute breaks every four hours with pay was ignored. If you complained the DM would fire you for some stupid reason. One guy who complained about the hours not getting paid was fired the next day for having his shirt untucked....I kid you not. GS is starting to become a symbol of crony capitalism. GS and its labor and worker policies wouldn't last a week in Europe without having their stores burned to the ground.

[jfunkdpg]

I'm not suprised at all. I've worked at a GS since last October and managers really get reamed when it comes to their hours.

On a somewhat related note, one of my managers was telling me (whether this is true or not I'm not sure, I know someone here probably knows where to find out) that Gamestop was in the top coporations in America in terms of profit during the last quarter. But at least in my district, the stores haven't been comping (meeting sales numbers from the previous year) that much more than last year. So where's all the extra profit coming from? Within the last couple of years GS has drastically cut employee discounts (a few years ago it was 35%, now it's 15%), they've cut wages, and cut the benefits managers receive (just to reiterate, this comes from one of my managers, not me).

[Roufuss]

I feel really bad for a friend of mine who manages a Gamestop... he is always working, I know he has to put in more than a 40 hour week, and to see that he's not getting overtime for it? That really sucks.

[RelentlessRolento]

having friends who work at multiple GSs/EBs I've heard and seen how horrible some of the work can be over there... these managers have more than any right to sue, plus the fact that thye are managers but barely "manage" makes perfect sense as well sadly.

[psiufoxx2]

I used to manage 2 separate EBGames stores and never experienced 50-60 hour workweeks. During the holidays the stores asked me to work 44 hours. I asked if they would provide overtime pay for the additional hours and they said no. I refused to work the additional 4 hours on principal. I was never fired and my DM was so eager to retain me as a manager that he allowed me to give those 4 hours to a part timer instead (paid of course).

I understand where they are coming from, but I also agree with some other posters. If there isn't a law which mandates overtime pay over 40 hours, get a new job. If there is such a law then this suit is valid.

[daschrier]

Are managers hourly or salaried??? I don't know ANY managers that are salaried that get overtime...

[jfunkdpg]

Are managers hourly or salaried??? I don't know ANY managers that are salaried that get overtime...

Store managers are salaried. I'm not sure about Assistant Managers, but 3rd Key Managers are hourly.

[Level Jumper]

As of my ending employment with EB/GS (on the EB side at the end of Jan, so this could be different now) store managers were salary, everyone else was hourly and store managers were required by EB policy to work a minimum of like 43.5 hours or something like that a week. That's all I've got to add to this.

[cochesecochese]

Sounds about right. I worked a christmas there at minimum wage. Everytime I go into any of the stores around here it's like a non stop barrage of people asking me to buy more shit I don't want or need. I hate that place.

[Riyonuk]

Yes I hate that place to, I walk in and there like up in my face yelling "Hi, How can I help you?" and I walk around and read the back of games and notice there hovering over my shoulder reading along with me...so I'm like "Yes?" and there like "Thats my favorite game"...ok >_> , I sure hope GS gets sued so badly that they all shut down and open up "Riyonuk's Games" and our logo would be "Come spend your money here!".

[jfunkdpg]

Yes I hate that place to, I walk in and there like up in my face yelling "Hi, How can I help you?" and I walk around and read the back of games and notice there hovering over my shoulder reading along with me...so I'm like "Yes?" and there like "Thats my favorite game"...ok >_> , I sure hope GS gets sued so badly that they all shut down and open up "Riyonuk's Games" and our logo would be "Come spend your money here!".

It's retail, what the fuck do you expect? If you don't like it, don't shop there.

[Riyonuk]

I havnt shopped there in a very long time. Ever since I asked them if they Valkrie Profile (I didnt know it was rare at the time) and there like "OMG hahah n00b, go away", >_<

[schuerm26]

It's retail, what the fuck do you expect? If you don't like it, don't shop there.

This is the stupidest argument (if you can call it that) that i have ever seen, and it gets posted CONSTANTLY!!

Not everyone has a choice of gamestores to shop at. G-stop has pretty much wiped out competition for used games. For tons of people Gamestop is it.

[schuerm26]

I havnt shopped there in a very long time. Ever since I asked them if they Valkrie Profile (I didnt know it was rare at the time) and there like "OMG hahah n00b, go away", >_<

Similar story. There is a gamestop in a mall around here and a Funcoland outside the mall. I look on the store inventory lookup and see that one of them has Ogre Battle. I can't remember which one it is (in the mall or outside the mall) so i went outside the mall first. The idiot in there starts saying "Of course we don't have it, you would have to be an idiot to trade that game in here" meaning you can get much more of ebay. Typical know it all gamestop employee fashion. So i go into the other one in the mall and there it is. I buy it, take it out and show the guy and he is speechless. It was great.

[Brak]

Is there any way we can create a class-action lawsuit against GameStop for sucking? If I remember right, they did that against Creed.

[Riyonuk]

Similar story. There is a gamestop in a mall around here and a Funcoland outside the mall. I look on the store inventory lookup and see that one of them has Ogre Battle. I can't remember which one it is (in the mall or outside the mall) so i went outside the mall first. The idiot in there starts saying "Of course we don't have it, you would have to be an idiot to trade that game in here" meaning you can get much more of ebay. Typical know it all gamestop employee fashion. So i go into the other one in the mall and there it is. I buy it, take it out and show the guy and he is speechless. It was great.

Heh, he got pwnd. I kinda left happy like that, instead of finding I found FF7 GH mint :) , but of course I couldnt rub it in his face as that was when it was common.

[Skylander7]

I hope they succeed, but it's doubtful that they will due to their official title being manager.

In my movie theatre days, they didn't pay managers overtime regardless of being hourly or salaried. I believe someone tried to sue over it, but they got out of it due to a clause in Alabama state law stating that agricultural laborers were exempt from overtime jurisdiction (and they claimed the agricultural loophole on the basis that they sold popcorn or something). With my understanding of the law, I'm baffled at how this can be true... but the Dept. of Labor didn't bust the theatre for it when it was fined for not allowing breaks or lunches for employees, so I guess it's true. Alabama has the longest (and likely the must fucked up) state constitution, but I wish someone would get laws such as these into the Supreme Court.

[botticus]

I'd be rather surprised if store managers are non-exempt employees (deserving of overtime), but I suppose it's possible. Laws are goofy so they might be on the edge based on their responsibilities. But the fact that they are salaried generally is a big hint you're not gonna get paid overtime. That's the bad part of a salary. The good part being you know how much money you're going to be pulling in next week, the week after, and ten weeks later, assuming you aren't fired.

[jfunkdpg]

This is the stupidest argument (if you can call it that) that i have ever seen, and it gets posted CONSTANTLY!!

And I see the same pointless bitching constantly being posted. The people who work at GS ask about the "shit I don't want or need" because it's their fucking job to do so. Just because one employee gave you a hard time doesn't mean every single GS employee acts that way.

[ITDEFX]

If Best Buy would just go nationwide with it's trade-in program and used games section, EB / GS would be in a world of trouble.

As long as they give fair prices for trade in's, and don't follow in EB/GS shitty policies, then it would be the death of those stores. I don't care if BB gives only store credit (gift cards), there is plenty of good stuff to buy with store credit...cd's, dvds, other video games, more cool shit. :) VS the crap at EB/GS

[Graystone]

How long will Salaried employees last. Lots of companies that have salaried employees end up getting sued in some state by some managers tired of not getting paid for their extra hours.

[The Mana Knight]

This doesn't surprise me one bit. I remember hearing in a forum once, that EB managers were better paid the Gamestop managers and received better benefits (This was before the merger).

The Babbages (that closed not too long ago) in the mall in my hometown (slidecage may know what I'm talking about), would seem to have a new employee most every time I there. In a 6 year span, I wouldn't be surprised if they had 50+ different employees and no less than five different managers. I'd constantly see the manager at the store change, or employees, so I figured there has to be something wrong with corporate. I would see previous managers or employees working at Select Comfort next door, Best Buy, Sam's Club Vision Center, and other places aroud town, and from what I believe, they still have those jobs now.

The EB in my mall, seemed to have mostly the same set of employees for a while, espcially 2-3 of them (I remembered their names well, and they were for 2-3 years together). The other EB location, still has the same manager since the store opened in 2003 (I haven't been there in a while, so who knows), and 1-2 other employees stayed there for a while.

So basically, when I was noticing employees/managers being more stable at EB compared to Gamestop, I knew something had to be wrong all this time.

That also has me thinking, the EB on my college campus, was very nice for a while (There were three managers, in a two year period), until Gamestop took completely over, as it seems. The managers were very nice to me, and that's why I would preorder a lot of games there along with buying the extra money there to buy some games, just to support them. The last manager, who was my favorite of the bunch, was fired because they said he was messing with time sheets (or whatever they're called). It sounded stupid to me, because they also dumped all other employees except one. Ever since he was gone, I've seen different managers at the store, who work there for a short time and leave. I've also been seeing new employees often, where most of them are morons. Because the place is going downhill and turning into how the Gamestop was in my mall (I had many horrible experiences with employees there, that I didn't mention), I haven't bought a game at EB/Gamestop for 2 months. That's becoming a record, since I use to buy games from EB/Gamestop a few times a month.

Yeah, I get sick of hearing (although I know they're pressured to do it) "Would you like to buy the strategy guide for the game? Since it's 20% of the price when buying the game", "Would you like buy the game protection plan for an extra $3", and "Would you like to preorder anything while your here?". I also remember one manager, who didn't last long, ask me "So, you want to preorder Gears of War? I can guarntee you a copy on release and there are a lot of preorders on it, where you might not find it at release". I mentioned that I don't have an Xbox 360, dislike shooters, and (although I never told him, but I was close to it) I'd just buy the game elsewhere since I guarntee they'll get it on release and stock plenty of copies (where I don't have to preorder).