Destiny 2 and Marathon developer Bungie is currently being sued for retaliation and wrongful termination by a former HR manager, who alleges she was let go when she raised a potential case of racial discrimination to her supervisors.
In a complaint filed earlier this year in the state of Washington, plaintiff Ingrid Alm recounts that she was hired by Bungie in May of 2022 as an HR manager, coming into the job with over a decade of experience. Just a few months into her employment, she says she was instructed to investigate the performance of a particular employee, referred to as “James Smith.” But when she sat down to speak with Smith, he allegedly pointed out that he was the only Black employee on a team of 50 individuals, and expressed that he felt he was being singled out and racially targeted by his supervisor.
Alm goes on to say that she shared this information with her supervisor and recommended that Smith’s supervisor receive diversity training, but alleges that her recommendation was met with “hostility and denial.” She says she was told that the individuals she was recommending take the training “had been there for a long time” and “are highly regarded,” and her recommendation was denied. During a follow-up discussion about the incident sometime after, Alm was additionally told by her supervisor that “she didn’t want to touch those conversations with a ten-foot pole.”
Following this, Alm alleges that Bungie recommended terminating Smith’s employment. Alm says she disagreed, saying this would be racial bias, and in September approached Bungie’s director of equity and inclusion, Dr. Courtney Benjamin, for advice. Benjamin suggested that terminating Smith would be “too risky considering the evidence,” and advised a written warning be given to Smith instead.
However, Alm alleges that her supervisor became “extremely angry” at her for having reached out to Benjamin, and gave her a written warning over email. Alm’s supervisor also called Benjamin to apologize for Alm approaching her, supposedly telling Benjamin that “she didn’t want her to think that she was a racist.” Later in September, Alm claims she was placed in the “needs improvement” category during a review, despite previously having excellent reviews from both peers and clients, and was told by her supervisor to look for an “off-ramp” – an exit from the job. Shortly after, Alm says she found her email and Bungie platform access cut off without explanation, and despite multiple attempts to contact her supervisor, received no response for several days.
At the end of September, Alm was informed that her resignation had been accepted, despite insisting that she had not intended to resign and wanted to keep her job. She says she declined to sign a document stating she “voluntarily resigned,” and that an email she sent to the company’s chief people officer Holly Barbacovi explaining the situation went unanswered.
Bungie’s response to Alm’s complaint is brief, and does not include an alternative narrative of events to counter hers. Bungie instead either flatly denies almost every part of Alm’s narrative without further context, or denies them with the statement that Bungie “lacks knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the truth or falsity of the allegations.” Bungie is represented in this case by Mary DePaolo Haddad, a Fox Rothchild lawyer who professes expertise in getting wrongful termination lawsuits dismissed and developing “strategies that serve my clients’ financial goals and minimize costs” when litigation is unavoidable.
Alm is suing Bungie for retaliation and wrongful termination, and asking for recourse in the form of lost past and future wages, damages for emotional distress, and attorney fees. A jury trial is set for January 22, 2024.
Notably, Alm was hired at Bungie just five months following an IGN report on the company’s work culture. In it, over 25 employees alleged the company had a history of allowing toxic culture to fester, including racial and gender bias, with those who reported such instances to HR alleging their reports were frequently dismissed or even turned against them. Following this report and prior to Alm’s hiring, Bungie’s former HR head stepped down from her role. IGN understands from its sources that following its 2021 report, Bungie also hired a number of new HR personnel in an effort to address the issues from the article, amid some pressure from its new parent company Sony.
IGN has reached out to Bungie for comment and did not receive a response in time for publication. Alm also did not respond to a request for comment.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
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