Eaton Smith’s Employment Lawyers are well placed in working with both individuals and businesses in the video games sector. The quality of Eaton Smith’s legal services has been recognised in the TIGA Games Industry Awards as winners of the Best Legal Services Supplier Award in both 2020 and 2022 and finalists in 2021. The Employment Team’s services include:

• Day to day HR advice, including dealing with performance improvement, disciplinaries and grievances.
• Preparation, review and update of employment contracts, handbooks and policies.
• Advice on recruitment and exit strategies.
• Preparation and advice on settlement agreements.
• Representation for bringing and defending Employment Tribunal claims.
• Advising on dispute resolution strategies.
• Assisting and advising on all aspects of discrimination in the workplace; and
• Advising buyers or sellers of games businesses on all aspects of the sale / purchase in relation to employment aspects of the transaction.

Specific employment law issues arising in the video games industry include:

Contracts of Employment

Intellectual property clauses feature heavily in creative industry employment contracts along with clauses defining the extent of accepted outside interests and restrictive covenants. Eaton Smith’s Employment Lawyers can advise on negotiating the terms to protect the parties’ best interests and to attract the best talent.

Remote Working

Many jobs in the Video Games Industry can be performed remotely. Eaton Smith’s Employment Lawyers advise on specific contractual clauses on remote working, remote working policies, overtime and pay rates, holiday entitlements to ensure compliance with legal obligations (such as sufficient rest breaks under the Working Time Regulations 1998) and to protect confidential information.

Employment status in the UK

With an increasing number of remote workers in the Video Games Industry, Eaton Smith’s Employment Lawyers will carefully examine and provide advice on the workers’ employment status in the UK.

IR35

If a business engages services through an intermediary (usually a personal service company ),it is important to determine whether, but for the existence of the intermediary, the worker would have been an employee of the business. This status determination must be carried out by the intermediary on a contract-by-contract basis. It is important that the contracts are drafted (legitimately and genuinely) to reflect the actual working relationship between the worker and the business (and it is important to remember that this might change over time and the contract needs to reflect that change).

So, whatever position you may occupy in the games industry and whatever size you may be, if you find yourself in need of employment legal assistance or documentation, we would love to help you. Please contact either Irina Polyakova (irinapolyakova@eatonsmith.co.uk) or Emma Elmerhebi (emmaelmerhebi@eatonsmith.co.uk) for assistance.