Legal experts say TSM and Blitz may have misclassified contractors

gamesindustry.biz:

Brendan Sinclair

Managing Editor

Wednesday 4th May 2022

Gaming-focused app firm Blitz and esports organization TSM may have been misclassifying workers as contractors rather than full-time employees in violation of California labor laws, according to legal experts consulted by The Washington Post.

The outlet included the experts' assessment in a report on the co-founder of both companies, TSM CEO Andy Dinh, and a number of complaints levelled against him by workers who said he fostered a "culture of fear" in the workplace.

The Post interviewed a dozen current and former employees of the two companies that share an office in Los Angeles. They said that Dinh made a habit of publicly shaming his employees, denigrating their work, calling them incompetent, or warning their colleagues that they were not to be trusted.

"Nobody wanted to be in a one-on-one meeting with Andy because you had no witnesses," said a former Blitz senior program manager. "I mean that literally. Who knew if Andy was going to scream or yell at you, degrade you, be friendly, or just be confused or inquisitive? You weren't sure what Andy you were going to get. But the more people on the call, the more likely Andy wasn't going to be a complete volcano."

The article also noted a significant amount of turnover, with firings or departures often following quickly on the heels of someone publicly disagreeing with Dinh. Both of Dinh's companies hired multiple VPs only to part ways with them in less than a year, or even a few months. One specific example was a head of HR that the company fired in March of 2021 after just a few weeks on the job.

A former employee told the outlet that when someone asked in an all-hands meeting what happened to that head of HR, Dinh