Former BioWare employees sue for better severance packages
By Ash Parrish, a reporter who has covered the business, culture, and communities of video games for seven years. Previously, she worked at Kotaku.
Several BioWare employees are suing their former employer after they alleged the company refused to grant them fair severance packages.
A press release from Worobec Law Offices, the firm representing seven ex-BioWare employees, stated that the employees were entitled to one month of severance pay for each year of employment including benefits. The employees averaged 14 years of service to the Dragon Age and Mass Effect developer and were let go after a round of layoffs hit the company back in August.
The press release alleged that BioWare offered less than the entitled amount and, when employees attempted to negotiate for more, the company refused to increase its offer. The employees are now suing BioWare for what they say are fairer severance packages in addition to punitive damages.
BioWare was one of several video game companies studios to undergo layoffs this year. In August, around 50 employees were laid off, including longtime veterans like Mary Kirby and Lukas Kristjanson who were key writers on the Dragon Age and original Baldur’s Gate series. Though none of the employees are named, given the average employment years of the plaintiffs, it’s likely that one or both are involved in the suit.
“In light of the numerous recent industry layoffs and the fact that BioWare’s NDAs prevent us from showing any of our recent work on Dragon Age: Dreadwolf in our portfolios, we are very concerned about the difficulty many of us will have finding work as the holiday season approaches,” said one of the employees in the press release. “We are struggling to understand why BioWare is
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