Orange County Employment Lawyers Blog
For allegedly conspiring with other studios to “fix” the wages of workers to an artificially low rate, the DreamWorks animation company has agreed to pay $50 million. 
DreamWorks filed a motion for a preliminary settlement in U.S. District Court, which if accepted would be the largest sum to date in a case that raises issues about the employment practices of all Hollywood animation studios.
The proposed settlement considered two others approved earlier this year involving Sony Pictures and Blue Sky Studios (owned by Twentieth Century Fox), which each agreed to pay visual effects producers and animators a combined $19 million for similar allegations of wage-fixing. These agreements stem from a class action lawsuit filed two years ago by a senior character effects artists for DreamWorks as well as a clothes and hair technical director for Sony. More plaintiffs later joined the action, alleging the animation studios conspired together to fix the wages and keep career opportunities stagnant for animators, software engineers, digital artists and other workers with technical expertise. Others named in the lawsuit include Lucasfilm, Pixar, ImageMovers Digital and Disney. Continue Reading ›