The LEC fines Astralis in surprise competitive ruling

Astralis isn’t off to a good start in the League of Legends world.

The LEC has handed down a competitive ruling stating the organization broke multiple offenses, news that came soon after Astralis announced the Origen rebrand.

While League of Legends fans were excited to see Astralis join the LEC under a new name, today it turned out the organization isn’t ready or healthy enough for this esports scene. The LEC Commissioner Maximilian “Max The X” Peter Schmidt shared a competitive ruling showing Astralis has been behind on paying their players.

It didn’t stop there. The LEC also indicated issues with Astralis’ general manager, saying he has “exhibited conduct unbecoming of an LEC Team Manager.”

Astralis gets fined by the LEC, quickly responds

The LEC started investigating Astralis after multiple team members reported missing salaries. The investigation quickly confirmed the allegations and flagged the missing payments, indicating it was tied to the team’s Danish jurisdiction as well as human error. Even though Astralis quickly resolved the matter and ensured team members got what they were owed, the offense couldn’t go without punishment according to Riot. The League of Legends developer decided to slap Astralis with a fine of €5,000.

But the story doesn’t end there.

During the investigation, Riot also concluded Astralis’ general manager committed multiple misconducts, including misrepresentation of contract terms to players and verbal misconduct.

Moving forward, Astralis will be required to ensure its team members have an easy, direct avenue through which they can communicate issues with the Astralis ownership group. This must also include an establishment of an onboarding program that will help team members better understand Danish jurisdiction, from payment of taxes to vacation pay.

Even though Astralis was quick to respond and start working towards a fix for these issues, Riot is a strict league organizer. If Astralis plans on remaining franchised in the LEC, the organization is now required to check in with the LEC through the 2021 season to prove they’re not breaking any more of Riot’s rules.

All in all, not an ideal start for the rebranded Astralis.