While we recognize that this monetary ruling is barely a bug bite to the wrist of Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games, we’ll take a win anyway we can get one, particularly since this story is about the studio’s demand that employees move to a Manchester office to work on the sandbox: A UK employment tribunal has ordered CIG to pay compensation for discriminating against a disabled worker in the amount of nearly £30,000, or $38,000 US.
The claimant, senior programmer Paul Ah-Thion, who has been diagnosed with autism, was hired in 2018 by CIG, which knew of his diagnosis. He began his tenure working at a Wilmslow, UK, office, but moved to work-from-home after the COVID-19 pandemic, which he found to be more accommodating to his disorder. Once CIG issued the return-to-office order at the company’s new Manchester building, Ah-Thion asked to remain WFH, which CIG flatly denied. He was then fired in July 2022 after multiple attempts to have his accommodation met.
Throughout the tribunal’s inquiry, CIG attempted to brand itself as a tech start-up (despite having 400 employees in multiple countries and the ability to construct a flashy new office complex) and tried to argue that Ah-Thion’s work performance was suffering as a result of working from home. The tribunal disagreed, pointing out that CIG never formally investigated the supposed performance concerns and stating that terminating Ah-Thion was disproportionate and discriminatory.
“Normal performance measures, such as performance targets and regular review meetings, could have been dealt with online,” the tribunal ruled. “We find that the respondent has treated the claimant unfavorably because of something arising in consequence of his disability.”
While Ah-Thion expressed vindication in the ruling and pride for working with those he did at CIG, he also expressed his disappointment in how management treated him during the final few months of his employment. “It was clear to me from the start that CIG didn’t want people to work from home after the expense of their new Manchester office, and worked backwards from that to retroactively conjure up reasons why my request should be denied,” he said. “It was gratifying that the tribunal saw through them as easily as they did.”
The referenced Manchester office, which CIG frequently crowed about – and the hard requirement that employees relocate there – caused what workers characterized as soft layoff of multiple senior staffers. CIG didn’t admit to any layoffs until weeks later.
