All Tecmo employees suing the company

Yes ma'am, the rumours of other Tecmo employees (aside from Team Ninja head Tomonobu Itagaki) suing the company turned out to be true, although just a little grander than you expected. Two plaintiffs who filed the case (one being Tecmo developer Hiroaki Ozawa) have chosen to represent the entire company, which amounts to 300+ employees. They will be suing for ¥8.3 million ($77,000), though it is not entirely clear whether or not this is per employee or for the entire team, though considering the figures below, I presume it's the former.

With the suit more accusations are revealed: an illegally placed "flexible hours" work scheme (which started in 2004) which meant no paid overtime, creation of false documents, and covering up of accounting documents.

Employees that work as hard as I'm sure at least most of Tecmo does (and has) definitely need the overtime pay (over 100 hours per month was unaccounted for, also presumably per employee); developers in general are known for hard work and some very long hours. However, this is a little odd. Why would they put up with no paid overtime for four years? That just doesn't seem feasible, though perhaps what with the cover ups and all, the employees felt there was nothing they could do, until now.

Now, while in a way it sucks Itagaki had to leave the team, in retrospect, it seems to be a very good thing he did. I'm sure he's beaming at this point, like ya would be. Now just to get Team Ninja back together, headed by Itagaki himself, perhaps? Too crazy? Either way, I think someone needs to head it; a good environment is necessary to counteract the previous one. Knowing how good previous Tecmo/Team Ninja games have been, imagine how good they'd be in a happy workplace. Although Tecmo owns the rights to the Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive series', maybe with this news, they'll be inclined to sell the rights - I wants me some mar Ninja Gaiden!