E-Sports activities Leagues Current Twist on Conventional Labor Regulation Points

By Last updated Feb 25, 2021

Thursday, February 25, 2021

The increasing trend among employers turning to new and updated methods of promoting collegiality and team loyalty affects esports leagues. Much like the company’s traditional softball team, esports leagues provide a modern way for employees to create teams to play video games against groups of workers from other companies. This competitive medium has grown in importance during the COVID-19 pandemic as employers look for innovative ways to interact with employees while observing social precautions. Employers can view these competitive outlets as a means of encouraging creativity, building relationships, and developing trust among employees.

Esports leagues help employers develop camaraderie among workers. Despite the benefits, they are a potential source of several known labor law risks. Identifying these risks early and incorporating liability mitigation strategies can contribute to the success of a company’s esports team.

Employee harassment

Video game competition usually involves electronic chat or audio communication between teammates and competitors. Employees in the heat of battle may lose sight of company rules that prohibit disrespectful and derogatory behavior towards employees. Such oversight may result in the use of language or behavior that addresses an employee during a game in a manner that would qualify for harassment based on a protected category under federal, state or local law supports. Even if the behavior takes place in a forum outside of the workplace, an employer may need to respond if the misconduct occurs between employees.

Employers who are sponsors or have knowledge of employee involvement in esports leagues may consider offering participating employees a refresher on appropriate communication and the consequences of harassment, bullying, or discriminatory misconduct. Such a reminder can be especially important for supervisory staff, for whom an employer can be held accountable for behavior towards subordinate workers. In addition, employers may want to be prepared to respond to complaints about employee activity resulting from participating in esports leagues. Even if an employer does not encourage, support, or require participation in a team or league, they may be required to respond to allegations of harassment or discriminatory behavior if made aware.

Discriminatory selection tools

As with other team building exercises, employers can rely on esports leagues as tools to evaluate contestants for potential leadership skills and promotions during the competition. Employers may see transferable skills when game participants are able to identify and leverage employee strengths to lead teams to success.

Before employers use esports performance as a metric to gauge suitability for the next advertising opportunity, they should consider who is participating in esports leagues – and, perhaps more importantly, who is not. A close review of team members can reveal that certain groups of employees have high participation while other groups of employees tend to avoid the gaming arena. Significant inequality in participation in esports activities when used to screen candidates for employment opportunities can lead to claims that an esports league is a discriminatory tool for job selection. To avoid such allegations, employers may want to consider alternative means by which unnamed employees can demonstrate the skills and abilities that make ideal advertisers.

Questions about vacation from work while playing

E-Sports League participants may include employees who have taken unpaid leave from work because of a serious health condition under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) or as reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). An employer may question employee participation in an esports league if it occurs concurrently with an employee’s FMLA or ADA vacation leave – which may result in the employee being disciplined for what is considered vacation abuse .

An employer may want to conduct an investigation before determining whether to take negative action in response to a potentially conflicting use of work vacation and participation in the esports league. An employee’s health that supports the need to take a vacation from work may allow the employee to participate in recreational activities such as video games. If participating in an esports league is compatible with an employee’s medical limitations, an employer’s disciplinary response could potentially base a claim for violation of vacation rights or retaliation for exercising vacation rights.