HAL Laboratory, the studio behind the much-loved Kirby series of video games, was in trouble with the Japan Labor Standards Bureau last year during the pandemic. The Labor Standards Office took the company into account after a HAL employee said they were not paid for overtime they worked from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. The HAL laboratory responded by saying that staff working remotely from home have been informed that they should not work overtime as they will not be paid extra. The company said that it was the employee’s fault for doing any additional work outside of standard working hours, and that they would not pay for it. However, this was not mentioned at all in the employee’s contract with the company and the company did not tell the person when they were hired. It seems that HAL Laboratory has now paid the employee what he was owed.
