The Paris Court of Appeal ruled in favor of a former Quantic Dream employee who claimed unfair dismissal from the company in 2017 after she had reported that inappropriate photoshopped images of employees were circulated within Quantic Dream. Quantic Dream had originally dismissed the employee for gross misconduct but later reclassified it as a dismissal for a serious cause during a 2018 trial. Quantic Dream lost that trial, and the ex-employee in question petitioned for unfair dismissal.
Thanks to the work of the French workers union Solidaires Informatique—which has previously provided legal support for employees affected by discrimination at Ubisoft—the ex-Quantic Dream employee won the unfair dismissal case on October 6, 2021. The case describes a pretty harrowing story of abuse and sexual harassment at Quantic Dream, which first came to light back in January 2018. Sources detailed how studio founder David Cage demanded long hours from employees, as well as his history of homophobic and racist remarks. Founders David Cage and Guillaume de Fondaumière recently won a libel case personally against a French publication for reporting on the matter, but the two cases filed under Quantic Dream were both unsuccessful.
In the case of misconduct in question, an employee representative circulated degrading images of employees within the company, which eventually leaked. One example was an image of an employee with the caption “All women are born equal but the best ones become accountants,” but with the word “accountants” crossed out and replaced with “whore.” That same employee representative later told the ex-employee to sign a form stating that the “artwork” did not offend her, which she refused.
A few weeks later, the employee was called in for an evaluation. The employee representative accused her of aggressive behavior and workplace error—specifically, scanning documents relating to the dismissal of Quantic Dream co-CEO Guillaume de Fondaumière. However, the court denied the claims stating that the ex-employee’s actions were justified as they were a management assistant, whose job is to—surprise, surprise—copy paperwork and accounting information.
The ex-employee had this to say about the ruling:
After years of proceedings, complaints, legal harassment, finally a decision that restores the facts. I am relieved and proud to have held my ground against an attitude that could be described as disloyal, dishonest and intimidating. Nobody is above the law. Good luck and be at peace with your conscience. Here everything is better. Yours sincerely.
The video games industry continues to undergo a strong movement of workers’ rights as employees at assorted companies fight back against discrimination and harassments.
[Source: Solidaires Informatique]
