JordiGH#Pixelles #WorkersRights workshop begins in 25 min (oops, I was wrong yesterday about the date).
I'll be live-tooting it. Mute this thread if you don't want to hear about it.
Pretty good turnout, but I see a lot of empty chairs. I was expecting it to be packed! Maybe people are just late, hopefully not due to crunch time.
Oh, the crowd is here. Extra chairs are being brought in. Guess we really are just a bit late.
Speaker Rebecca takes the floor.
Don't take picture of the slides, 'cause nobody should be endangered by their employer.
This workshop is every month (huh, first time I hear about it!)
Other members of Pixells are bieng introduced.
Oh, they're also live-tweeting the event (missed the handle).
Only audio is recorded and no voices nor Q&A are recorded, to ensure anonymity of attendees.
Whisper translators are available, but they don't seem to be used right now. Nobody took up the offer
Carolyn and Mohammed now have the floor.
This is designed for Québec law, taking laws from across other industries, but they should apply to the game industry too.
Polling for employees/freelancers. Most people in the audience are employees.
Employers will abuse the ambiguity between employer/freelancer to take away workers' rights.
The biggest difference between being an employee or a freelancer is you have a boss.
Do they determine if you're hired/fired? Do you have a schedule and decide where to work? Do they define your task and work methods? Do they manage your activities or any who replaces you?
If yes, you're an employee.
Other questions:
Do you have financial liability? (if yes, you're not an employee, generally)
Do you own tools? If yes, freelancer (haha, means of production!)
Can you make profits and losses? If yes, freelancer.
There are other criteria to determine employee or freelancer status, like the terms of your contract, but important that this is NOT the sole criteria, and regardless of what the contract says, you may be able to claim employee rights.
Overtime laws apply mostly to employees.
Overtime is due to all employees.
Annual leave and stat holidays count as working days.
Standard work week is 40 hours, any more than that is overtime which should be paid at 150% of your regular wages. You may instead request time off in lieu and forego the extra wages.
Freelancers may include a rush rate in your contract, since freelancers have no limit to the number of working hours. Insist on these clauses, don't be afraid that you won't get the job if you do.
Very new laws just passed this year: you have the right to refuse work under several conditions.
* More than 2 hours overtime on one day
* More than 12 hours in a 24 hour period.
* More than 50 hours per week.
* You were not given 5 days notice.
Naturally, being punished for refusing overtime under these conditions is illegal.
Now we're going on to harassment.
Harassment is vexatious behaviour or comments that create a harmful working environment. Could be repetitive in nature, many little things adding up.
It can be based on social condition, gender identity, sex, pregnancy, race, colour, religion, ethinic origin, and so forth.
Bill 176 is the most recent update to the Québec labour code.
Employee must write up their harassment policy and make it available to the employees.
Depending on the nature of your work, (non-unionised employee, unionised, or freelancer), there are different orgs where you can file your harassment complaints.
Outcomes of a harassment complaint decided in your favour can be your job being reinstated (in case you were fired) or monetary compensation.
Termination (layoffs or firing).
You must have written notice (unless you were hired for a task which is now complete).
If you were not given sufficient notice, the employer must pay wages that would have been earned during the notice period.
If you keep working for 5 days after a fixed-term contract ended but no one tells you to leave, your contract is automatically renewed (does this happen!?)
The amount of notice you must receive for termination gets longer depending on how long you've been working in the company, with up to 8 week's notice after 10 years of service.
You can terminate a freelance contract early, but you must have so-called "serious reasons":
* Interference from client,
* Client refuses to cooperate
* Client was repeatedly abusive
* Client tries to change the terms of the contract
Serious reasons are not:
* You didn't ask for enough money upfront.
* The client is too demanding about performance.
* Client didn't pay for small costs.
You cannot quit your freelance contract if:
* A time that causes the client damage (e.g. before a big release date)
* Client may pursue legal action, and burden of proof is on contractor that you quit for a serious reason.
You are entitled to leaves and absences for sicknesses, injury, wedding, funerals, birth, adoption or pregnancy, each for various lengths of time.
Pregnancy/birth/adoption are up to 52 weeks and it can be split with your partner.
Parental leave and extended illness are unpaid leaves; others are paid.
Employee is not allowed to fire you, take away benefits or reduce wages if you take any of your allowed leave for the legal length of time.
Vacation time is kind of short. 😠
Less than one year of employement is one day per month of employment. For 1-3 years you're allowed 2 weeks, 3 years or more you're allowed up to 3 weeks.
Less than one year of employement is one day per month of employment. For 1-3 years you're allowed 2 weeks, 3 years or more you're allowed up to 3 weeks.
Employees get 8 stat holidays per year (freelancers don't get them). If required to work on stat holidays, your pay is at overtime rates.
Employers cannot take any action against employees for exercising these rights, for making a copmlaint to the labour commission, for being pregnant or paying child support.
If the employer does try to take action against you, you can file a complaint to the labour commission.
You cannot be fired for reaching age of retirement either.
You have 45 days to file complaints with the labour commission.
Copyright:
In absence of any contract clause to the contrary, all of your work as en employee automatically is copyrighted to your employer. If freelancer, copyright defaults to the freelancer.
Be careful about claiming rights over things you don't own (public domain, other people's stuff).
Allowable non-compete clauses:
* Freelancers can't hire your client's employees.
* You can't take your client's clients.
* You can't work for your client's competitors.
It's important to note the scope of these. Is it for a limited time? For a limited location? What the contract says may be against the law.
Every employee has a right to form a union.
No employer association can try to stop you from joining a union.
You cannot be punished for joining a union.
If they claim they're firing you for another reason, the burden of proof is on them.
However!
* You are not allowed people to join the union during work hours.
* You cannot hold union meetings at work, unless you have employer's permission.
Benefits of unions:
* Stronger negotiation power to win improvements vs individual action.
* Very few benefits to freelancers, hence unions can help.
* Can improve the whole industry for everyone, so we can stop job-hopping.
* Rebalance power relations, which normally are in favour of the employer.
* Democratise company policies, give employers a voice on what a company should do.
* Stop misclassifying some employees as freelancers.
It's up to us to stand together for collective action!
We can work together even before unionising. It's all about employees getting together.
Now for Q&A session, questions submitted via slips of paper in a bag.
#GameWorkersUnite is an org with many local chapters. Our local chapter isn't a union, but others are.
Stuff is happening and movements are beginning at several companies, but this stuff can't be discussed publicly.
Q: Can we legally record conversations with HR or management?
A: In general yes, unless contracts say otherwise and there is no violation expectations of privacy (e.g. no wiretapping).
Q: Are employees are obligated to give raise?
A: [didn't answer, just said to organise and improve conditions]
Q: Can we change laws?
A: Yes, and this is possible, talk to them after the meeting.
Q: Legal to not hire if you're unionised?
A: Generally no, but this can be difficult to enforce. With more unionising, more difficult to discriminate against union members.
Q: How much information do you have to provide on doctor's notes?
A: Enough to provide a diagnosis from the doctor, but employer does not have right to ask documents from the doctors directly.
Q: Qu'est-ce qu'on peut faire pour l'équite salariale et si on a découvert ça après être engagé?
A: Il a une loi pour l'équité salariale. You must see if the position is similar to another with a different salary and prove discrimination.
Q: How can we keep evidence if we can't access anything from the work computer outside work?
A: Screenshots with phone, printed copy, requires ingenuity.
Evidence is very important for lawyers, even if they can't be presented to a judge. A judge might even think something is admissible of evidence if it's in violation of the contract or privacy right.
Q: As a freelancer working with a company that always demands more than agreed upon, what can I do?
A: Organise, do collective bargaining to improve working conditions. Contact local orgs like Game Workers Unite Mtl or S'Attaq for help.
Q: If I have sick days but I don't take them, is employer still obligated to pay me for them?
A: No, they don't carry over if you don't use them. But remember that freelancers can change their contract.
Q: How much time to challenge wrongful termination?
A: 45 days.
Q: What if you're misclassified as contractor?
A: Read the laws and cite them to the employer. Collective action! You can also pressure by working odd hours as a freelancer, as you're allowed to.
Q: What if at my company no one is paid overtime but instead are always being given time off in lieu, and not enough?
A: This is illegal and if this is happening to a lot of people, collective action is the best course of action. Can also file a complaint to the labour commission. Contact local orgs like GWU and S'attaq.
A: This is illegal and if this is happening to a lot of people, collective action is the best course of action. Can also file a complaint to the labour commission. Contact local orgs like GWU and S'attaq.
Q: Can you collect disability if forced to quit for mental health issues?
A: Yes, absolutely, as long as it's caused by work.
A: Yes, absolutely, as long as it's caused by work.
Ben Zanin