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A settlement has been reached in the class action lawsuit between volunteers for Emerald City Comicon and Eitane Emerald Corp. and members of the Demonakos family, according to documents provided by the plaintiffs’ law firm. The settlement provides for a payment of $493,227.84 to the volunteers and the attorneys representing the class.The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the class by former volunteer Jerry Michael Brooks in May of 2016 (see “Conventions the Next Class Action Lawsuit Target”), alleging that volunteers were not paid for their time and asked for double the back wages, interest, costs, and fees. The class was estimated as at least 250 people who had volunteered in 2014 and 2015. Attorneys will receive $123,300, the lead plaintiff will receive $5000 as an incentive award, after a few other costs, the remainder of the $493, 227.84 will be divided among the volunteers that respond to the notice based on their hours as a percentage of the total to be compensated. The payments to volunteers will be considered half wages for hours worked, and half settlements for not previously paying wages. Past volunteers will be contacted using the last email addresses available land through the social media accounts used to recruit volunteers.The defendants, Eitane Emerald and the Demonakos family members, do not admit liability and “deny any wrongdoing or legal liability arising out of any of the facts of conduct alleged in this case.” There was no ruling by the court on the claims; the settlement eliminates the need for a trial. ReedPOP acquired Emerald City Comicon in 2015 and took over operations in 2016 (see “ReedPOP Acquires Emerald City”); it was not involved in this litigation.
I wonder how soon we will see differences in other 'for-profit' conventions--especially the larger ones.
This is a really interesting topic that could definitely change the Con landscape. I just hope this doesn't hurt smaller conventions as I know several people who volunteer at Cons in my area just because they love it and it's become as much of their Con experience as Cosplay may be for someone else. Sometimes the cost of the badge/t-shirt/misc swag/food is worth more than any hourly wage they'd get for the hours they donate their time so with the exception of organizations that take advantage and overschedule their volunteers I think it might dissuade a fan from "working" the event and we are gonna end up with a bunch people who could care less about the Con and that are just there for the (I'm guessing) mediocre paycheck. I totally understand paying those who work for the Con year round but where is the line, we have a few Cons that compensate cosplayers with badges to go around and promote them at local events guessing they'd fall into this category as well?!
I will say though, that (at least in this area) a "mediocre paycheck" (min. wage) is not going to be an incentive for anyone to volunteer/work a convention who wouldn't otherwise be interested.
As an aside, I was at Walker Stalker in San Francisco this past weekend, and talked to some of the staff. They told me they were all paid, and that there were no 'volunteers', and said there was a California law requiring it.
I wonder when they started that. The last time there was Walker Stalker at Comic Con, I was a volunteer.
Which state was it in? The volunteer/paid laws can vary by state.