Cloud Imperium Games ordered to compensate former staff in disability discrimination case

gamesindustry.biz:

A UK employment tribunal has ordered Cloud Imperium Games to pay a former employee £27,748 in compensation following a discrimination claim about its return-to-office policy.

As reported by Game Developer, senior programmer Paul Ah-Thion was dismissed in 2022 after his requests to permanently work from home to accommodate his disability were denied.

Ah-Thion previously worked in-office at its former Wilmslow location before Cloud Imperium mandated employees to work from home during the pandemic. In 2021, CIG opened its Manchester studio – which is now its UK headquarters – and mandated staff to return to the office.

As found by the tribunal, Ah-Thion reportedly asked to continue working remotely rather than relocate to the Manchester studio, which was denied. He was then let go due to "performance issues related to his remote working setup."

The tribunal found that Cloud Imperium's "concern about the claimant's performance seemed rather retrospective in the sense that whilst the claimant was employed [Cloud Imperium] never formally investigated those concerns" and that it "failed to give any evidence to suggest why they could not monitor it successfully remotely whilst he was working from home."

"There is no evidence that working from home would have failed to achieve the respondent's legitimate aim of ensuring the acceptable performance of a senior gameplay programmer," the judgement further read.

"We find that [Cloud Imperium] has treated the claimant unfavourably because of something arising in consequence of his disability. [It has] been unable to show that dismissal was a proportionate means of achieving the legitimate aim."

GamesIndustry.biz has reached out to Cloud Imperium for comment.