Star Citizen devs Cloud Imperium fined for discriminating against autistic programmer over work-from-home request
A UK employment tribunal have ordered Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium to pay around £27,748 - approximately $35,230 - in compensation for discriminating against former senior programmer Paul Ah-Thion, who was dismissed in 2022 after his requests to work from home following an office move were denied.
Ah-Thion, who is autistic, joined Cloud Imperium in 2018. As reported by Game Developer, he was based at the space sim developer's former offices in Wilmslow, before Cloud Imperium instructed employees to work from home in line with UK Covid pandemic lockdown requirements. In 2021, following the cessation of more stringent social distancing measures, Cloud Imperium opened a new headquarters in Manchester, and required staff to return to the office.
Ah-Thion, however, had found that working from home allowed him to avoid what he describes as the exhaustion and distress of working on Cloud Imperium's premises. The article doesn't go into detail about this, but it's worth noting here that many autistic people have great difficulty with the sensory environment and social expectations of in-office work, unless proper accommodations are made.
Ah-Thion applied for a permanent remote working arrangement following the mandated return to the office, but was quickly denied by Cloud Imperium. The two parties went back and forth over the request, and Cloud Imperium eventually dismissed Ah-Thion in July 2022, citing performance issues related to his remote working setup. During the subsequent employment tribunal, Cloud Imperium claimed he was unable to meet certain job criteria, such as mentoring junior staffers, when working remotely.
The tribunal, however, rejected many of Cloud Imperium's justifications for the dismissal, noting that in the absence of a formal investigation of Ah-Thion at the time, "concern about the claimant's performance seemed rather retrospective". According to a Cloud Imperium witness at the trial, the company never formally asked Ah-Thion to return to
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