Fired Rockstar union workers denied interim relief at preliminary tribunal
A group of former Rockstar workers who claim they were fired for unionizing have been denied interim pay at a preliminary UK employment tribunal after choosing to challenge their dismissal in court.
As reported by Bloomberg, the ousted employees have taken legal action against the Grand Theft Auto maker with support from the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB).
Last week, an IWGB spokesperson said the fired staffers hoped to secure "urgently needed" relief at the interim hearing while they wait to face their former employer in court.
After a two-day hearing, however, Employment Judge Frances Eccles denied that request.
"In all the circumstances, the tribunal was unable to conclude that it appears likely that the tribunal will find that the principal reason for the claimants dismissal was their membership of the IWGB," wrote Eccles.
It was noted that the bar for securing a favorable interim ruling is higher than it will be at the upcoming full hearing.
Rockstar, which claims it made the decision to fire those employees after they leaked confidential information in a Discord channel that was also accessible to external staff, welcomed the decision.
"We regret that we were put in a position where dismissals were necessary, but we stand by our course of action as supported by the outcome of this hearing," a Rockstar spokesperson told Bloomberg.
"We have always been clear that Interim Relief is an incredibly high bar to meet"When discussing the case, Judge Eccles supported points made by both sides. They noted some employees were fired by Rockstar despite "having posted very little on the Discord server," while acknowledging that the Discord group had 350 members—some of whom are no longer employed by Rockstar.
Eccles also noted that some of those workers fired by the company were not members of the UK union, but added there was "no evidence" of Rockstar suffering adverse consequences as a result of the Discord posts.
They also questioned how Rockstar handled the dismissals.
"No one was suspended. There were no disciplinary hearings," added Eccles. "The claimants were not given the opportunity to respond to allegations of wrongdoing before the decision was taken to dismiss them. Comments relied on by the respondent to dismiss the claimants were obtained without the knowledge of employees using Discord, described by the claimants as "covert monitoring."
In a statement issued to press following the decision, IWGB described the result as "disappointing" but said it remains confident of securing a positive outcome at a full hearing.
"We have always been clear that Interim Relief is an incredibly high bar to meet as a temporary measure before the substantive tribunal, and it would have been almost unprecedented for a judge to award this to a group of this size," said an IWGB spokesperson.
"That we did not secure an interim relief order means the especially stringent conditions required for this kind of hearing were not met, but does nothing to suggest that Rockstar will not be found guilty of unfair dismissal when the case goes to trial."
