After BioWare eliminated 50 jobs back in August, seven of those former employees are now suing the Dragon Age and Mass Effect maker for better severance.
Per a press release obtained by IGN today (spotted by Kotaku's Ethan Gach), the group of employees has filed a Statement of Claim with Alberta’s Court of King’s Bench, requesting fair severance pay and punitive damages for what they call “unreasonably fair treatment by BioWare.”
The press release notes that the employees were fired without cause, and that in recent cases of termination without cause in the Alberta Courts, former employees have been granted one month severance pay per year of service, including the full value of benefits. Without delving into specifics, the release says the laid-off employees were offered “significantly less than this amount,” despite alleged efforts to negotiate with BioWare. In filing the lawsuit, these employees have refused BioWare's offered severance pay.
The seven employees filing the lawsuit have an average of 14 years at the company, says the release. In a statement, one of the terminated employees notes that while they “remain supportive” of the long-awaited Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, “we are struggling to understand why BioWare is shortchanging us in this challenging time.”
“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,” the statement says.
R. Alex Kennedy, a lawyer with Worobec Law Offices who is representing the former employees, says BioWare may have included illegal provisions regarding termination in company contracts: “BioWare attempted to reduce its obligation to these employees well below what the courts typically award, including by eliminating benefits from its termination pay – that appears to be contrary to the Employment Standards Code.”
IGN has reached out to EA for comment on the lawsuit.
When the layoffs were announced, BioWare General Manager Gary McKay said in a blog post that it was part of a “long-term vision” to make it a "more agile and more focused studio." He added that while they were “committed” to supporting the affected employees, including in regards to finding them placement elsewhere within the company, they would not be able to find new jobs for everyone.
The cuts came amid development for Dragon Age: Dreadwolf and the next Mass Effect, with the layoffs affecting experienced employees for both series. In his press release at the time, McKay insisted that their commitment to the fourth major Dragon Age game “remains steadfast,” while the next Mass Effect continued on in pre-production.
As the statement above notes, there has been a number of layoffs in the games industry over just over the past month or so. Earlier today, a Kotaku report revealed that Sony-owned studio Naughty Dog has apparently suffered a round of layoffs, joining likes of Blizzard’s Hearthstone team, Worms maker Team17, Immortals of Aveum maker Ascendant Studios, Callisto Protocol publisher Striking Distance, and Fortnite’s Epic Games – which laid off 830 employees – among others.
“These people are artists and creators who have worked very hard and for a very long time in a difficult industry, producing big profits for their employer,” Kennedy says in today’s press release. “Their termination without cause en masse like this calls for a response. Employers here can terminate anyone at any time without cause, but with that right comes a responsibility to the people they put in that situation.”
Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she's not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.
