A British court has ruled that the studio Cloud Games Imperium must pay his former employee compensation in the amount of almost 30 thousand poundsequivalent to approximately 900,000 crowns. The company fired a disabled programmer after he asked to work from home, Game Developer magazine reported.
Senior Gameplay Programmer Paul A-Tion previously worked out of an office in Wilmslow, England. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the company moved to a full home office and planned a subsequent move to Manchester. It was supposed to order a return to common areas once the pandemic ended, but the court found it had not made a formal order.
Ah-Tion, who suffers from autism spectrum disorderwas asked to continue working from home. He was refused and immediately fired. Cloud Imperium justified the dismissal by saying that the developer was not efficient enough due to the home office and was unable, for example, to pass on his experience to junior colleagues. The court rejected the arguments, stating that, on the one hand, the studio “discovered” the problems only retroactively and did not observe them during the pandemic, and on the other hand, they were related to the developer’s disability, known to it. for about a long time.
“It was clear to me from the start that CIG did not want people working from home after the new Manchester offices opened and, in retrospect, they were making up reasons why my application should be refused. They did this right up until the last court hearing, ignoring disability legislation in the process. I was pleased that the court saw through them so easily.” — said game developer Paul A-Thion. Studio representatives did not comment on the situation.
The move to Manchester was also expected to cost an unknown number of US developers who were unable or unwilling to relocate to the UK. Producer Annie Bouffard has spoken out about the company’s toxic leadership. He also left Cloud Imperium at the end of January. Todd PappyGame Director Star Citizen.
Source : Zing
