A former HR manager for video game publisher Bungie, Inc. has asked for a jury trial in her suit alleging that she was wrongfully terminated in retaliation for reporting racial bias to her superiors at the company, according to Sept. 26 court filings.
In her complaint, filed January in Washington’s King County Superior Court, the plaintiff claimed that she was instructed to investigate the performance of an employee who was the only Black employee on his 50-person team within Bungie.
After the employee expressed concerns about racial targeting by his supervisor, the HR manager said she, in turn, told her supervisor about these concerns and recommended that Bungie provide diversity training to the employee’s supervisor.
But the plaintiff alleged that her supervisor reacted “with hostility and denial” at her recommendation and stated that the individuals she had recommended for training “had been there for a long time” and “are highly regarded.” The plaintiff claimed that the requested training was not provided and that a second attempt to recommend unconscious bias training for Bungie’s recruiting department also failed.
When Bungie moved to fire the employee at the center of the race bias allegations, the plaintiff claimed she was instructed to prepare the separation agreement. Subsequently, she said she contacted Bungie’s director of diversity, equity and inclusion, who told her that the termination was “too risky considering the evidence” and instead recommended that the employee be given a written warning.
The plaintiff alleged that she took the director’s input to her supervisor, who “became extremely angry” at the plaintiff and said her decision to reach out to the supervisor was “unacceptable” and “deserved a warning.”
Weeks later, the plaintiff claimed that Bungie cut off her access to the company’s email and other platforms. She alleged that her supervisor then informed her that her resignation was accepted and that she was being terminated, but the plaintiff “explained that she had not intended to resign and wanted to remain in her job.” She refused to sign a document stating that she had voluntarily resigned.
Bungie did not immediately respond to an HR Dive request for comment.
The plaintiff seeks monetary relief including the full amount of her lost past and future wages under Washington state anti-discrimination law.
The events described in the suit occurred a little over one year after Bungie’s CEO announced in 2021 that the company would take a series of steps to address toxic work culture allegations, including hiring a director of diversity and inclusion. Those allegations followed a series of similar stories affecting competitors in the video game industry, including Activision Blizzard.
Federal equal employment opportunity laws prohibit employers from retaliating against job applicants and employees who provide information in an employer’s internal investigation of an EEO matter or who refuse to obey an order reasonably believed to be discriminatory, according to a 2016 technical assistance document published by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
