The developer of Destiny 2 and of Marathon, Bungieis being sued for retaliation and wrongful termination by a former human resources manager, who alleges she was fired when she raised a possible case of racial discrimination with her supervisors.
In a lawsuit filed earlier this year in Washington state, the plaintiff Ingrid Alm says that she was hired by Bungie in May 2022 as a human resources manager, with over a decade of experience in the field. Just a few months into his employment, he claims he was directed to investigate the performance of a particular employee, referred to as “James Smith.” But when he sat down to talk with Smith, he allegedly pointed out that he was the only black employee on a team of 50 people, and expressed that he felt he was being singled out and that he felt like a target of racial discrimination by the company. supervisor of him.
Alm goes on to say that he shared this information with his supervisor and recommended that Smith’s supervisor receive diversity training, but alleges that his recommendation was met with “hostility and denial.” He claims he was told that the people he recommended taking the training “had been there a long time” and “were well-liked,” so his recommendation was rejected. During a follow-up discussion about the incident, Alm also claimed that his supervisor told him that he “didn’t want to touch that type of conversation with a ten-foot pole.”
After this, Alm alleges that Bungie recommended firing Smith. Alm says he disagreed, arguing that this would be racial bias, and in September he approached the director of equity and inclusion at Bungie, Dr. Courtney Benjamin, seeking advice. Benjamin suggested that ending the employment of Smith would be “too risky considering the evidence” and recommended instead giving a written warning to Smith.
However, Alm claims that her supervisor became “extremely angry” with her for contacting Benjamin and sent her a written warning via email. Alm’s supervisor also called Benjamin to apologize for the fact that Alm had approached her, allegedly saying that he “didn’t want him to think he was racist.”
Days later, Alm claims she was placed in the “needs improvement” category during an evaluation, despite previously receiving excellent reviews from both colleagues and clients, and that her supervisor told her to find a “way out” of the job. Shortly after, Alm says she found his email access and platform Bungie deleted without explanation, and despite multiple attempts to contact his supervisor, he received no response for several days.
In late September, Alm was informed that his resignation had been accepted, despite insisting that he had not intended to resign and that he wanted to keep his job. He says he refused to sign a document stating that he was “voluntarily resigning” and that an email he sent to the company’s human resources director, Holly Barbacovi, explaining the situation went unanswered.
The response of Bungie Alm’s complaint is brief and does not include an alternative narrative of events to refute his own. Bungie he simply denies almost every part of Alm’s narrative without further context, or denies them with the statement that Bungie “lacks sufficient knowledge or information to form a belief about the truth or falsity of the allegations.” In this case, Bungie is represented by Mary DePaolo Haddad, a Fox Rothchild attorney who says she has experience dismissing wrongful termination lawsuits and developing “strategies that serve my clients’ financial objectives and minimize costs” when litigation is unavoidable.
Alm is suing Bungie for retaliation and wrongful termination, and seeks compensation in the form of past and future lost wages, damages for emotional distress, and attorneys’ fees. A jury trial is scheduled for January 22, 2024.
It is important to note that Alm was hired in Bungie just five months after a report on the company’s work culture in which more than 25 employees alleged that the company had a history of allowing a toxic culture to thrive, including racial and gender discrimination, and that those who Reporting such cases to human resources stated that their reports were often dismissed or even turned against them. After this report and before Alm was hired, the then head of human resources at Bungie he resigned from his position.
According to several sources, after a report was revealed, Bungie It also hired several new human resources employees in an effort to address the article’s problems, under some pressure from its new parent company, sony.
Neither party, Bungie nor Alm have responded to requests for comment on the situation.
Via: IGN
Editor’s note: I wonder if Jim Ryan still thinks that buying Bungie It was a better deal than Microsoft acquiring Activision-Blizzard. Although so close to retirement it is possible that you are not interested in these topics.
#sue #Bungie #unjustified #dismissal #Atomix