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Santa Cruz Game Degree Gets Unclaimed SCEA Overtime Settlement Funds

The University of California Santa Cruz will use $450,000 from a class action settlement in a Sony Computer Entertainment overtime lawsuit to offer scholarships to its game design majors, according to local media reports.

Leigh Alexander, Contributor

October 1, 2008

1 Min Read
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The University of California Santa Cruz will use $450,000 from a class action settlement in a Sony Computer Entertainment overtime lawsuit to offer scholarships to its game design majors, according to local media reports. The 2005 lawsuit on behalf of a former employee sought damages from SCEA, claiming that the company didn't pay overtime to employees who worked nights, weekends and holidays, according to a report by the local San Jose Mercury News. In 2007, Sony reportedly paid $8.5 million to current and former employees to settle the case without admitting any wrongdoing. The UCSC game design major was designated as a recipient of uncollected funds in the settlement. "It's great news for us," associate professor Jim Whitehead the Mercury. Whitehead played a role in designing the major, the paper says. The funding will be "totally dedicated for undergrad scholarships for computer game design majors," Whitehead said. "Its very nice because a lot of funding is for graduate students, it's nice to have that amount for undergraduates."

About the Author

Leigh Alexander

Contributor

Leigh Alexander is Editor At Large for Gamasutra and the site's former News Director. Her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Variety, Slate, Paste, Kill Screen, GamePro and numerous other publications. She also blogs regularly about gaming and internet culture at her Sexy Videogameland site. [NOTE: Edited 10/02/2014, this feature-linked bio was outdated.]

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