Ubisoft faces a collective lawsuit filed by a French union, who alleges the publisher is guilty of systemic sexual harassment.
French union Solitaires Informatique filed a collective action lawsuit last Friday. In a statement, the union says that Ubisoft is guilty of “putting in place, maintaining and strengthening a system where sexual harassment is tolerated because it is more profitable for the company to keep harassers in place than to protect its employees.” (Thanks to gamesindustry.biz for the translation.)
The lawsuit names Ubisoft Chief Creative Officer Serge Hascoët, Head of HR Cécile Cornet, Editorial Department member Tommy François, and CEO Yves Guillemot as defendants. The lawsuit also named others as defendants, particularly Hascoët's assistant and other members of the HR team.
Of the four, Hascoët and François allegedly committed sexual harassment against other employees. When allegations surfaced in June last year, employees came forward saying that their misbehavior and by those close to them were tolerated by the executives at Ubisoft. They seemed untouchable and beyond reproach.
Hence, Solidaires Informatique also included Ubisoft's CEO Guillemot as a defendant. They believe that as the CEO, he should be held responsible for the actions of other high-ranking officers. Meanwhile, ever since last year's revelation, Ubisoft moved to expel the erring officers, including Global Head of HR Cornet. Today, of the four main respondents, only CEO Guillemot remains part of the company.
Ubisoft made a statement last May stating that they have made considerable progress since then. “Since then,” the statement, penned by Guillemot, reads, “we have engaged in a company-wide effort to listen, learn and build a roadmap for a better Ubisoft for all.” When asked for a comment, gameindustry.biz reports, Ubisoft only refers to this statement and declined to give any other comment.
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