Former NiP coach accuses organization of unpaid wages, NiP responds

Fariha Bhatti Published 29/05/2019

Aaron “Clairvoyance” Kim, the former Ninjas in Pyjamas Dota 2 coach, released a Twitlonger post accusing the Swedish esports organization of failing to pay him owed prize money. The Ninjas in Pyjamas organization has since challenged the claims.

The Twitlonger, which is very long and includes a number of shots taken at both NiP players and the organization, provides claims from Clairvoyance that he was owed two months’ salary, one of which was part of his initial contract and the other which was not. He claimed that NiP held off on offering him another contract after the initial one expired, but he continued to work for the organization regardless.

Clairvoyance also claimed that he was owed 7.5% of the team’s prize money from the Dota Pit Minor event that NiP ended up winning, and the organization was refusing to pay him this amount. However, he also revealed that this was not part of a contract and instead based on conversations he claims to have had with NiP CEO Hicham Chahine and with Dota 2 team captain Peter “ppd” Dager, in which the amount was promised to him. All together he said he was owed between $10,000 and $17,000.

As you would expect with claims of this nature, NiP has responded and challenged a number of Clairvoyance’s points. A statement posted on Reddit revealed that Clairvoyance’s contract expired at the end of March, with the team wanting to then take some time to decide if they wanted to keep him on or not.

At no point did he have a contract that entitled him to 7.5% of the team’s winnings for the minor victory. The team was prepared to offer him a contract with a 5% cut, but Clairvoyance came back and requested 7.5%, which the team could not agree to and as such decided not to offer him a new contract.

Ninjas in Pyjamas contends that the owed salary was not paid because Clairvoyance submitted invoices that included the 7.5% cut of the winnings which had never been agreed to. On May 26, he submitted invoices for the correct amounts, without the 7.5% cut. These amounts were then paid on May 27. As Clairvoyance was unable to provide documentation proving he was entitled to the prize money shares, it appears he will not be paid for them.

NiP also commented that by releasing the Twitlonger Clairvoyance had broken multiple contractual clauses with NiP and that they could claim damages if they wished. However, they will not be doing this, seemingly wanting to put an end to the entire episode.

Fariha Bhatti

About Fariha Bhatti

Fariha Bhatti is a long-time gaming writer who loves competitive FPS games and slots with particularly fun themes. She got her start playing classic games developed by SNK, from legendary fighting game series The King of Fighters to challenging platform franchise Metal Slug. She now spends most of her time playing Valorant and Counter-Strike 2 while working her way through new slot releases to find her next favorite. Fariha has been published at PCGamesN, TalkEsport and ONE Esports.

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