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. 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."