Key facts
- A former Rockstar Games employee's posting of internal emails on Discord was an "egregious breach" of company policy, a tribunal heard.
- Rockstar Games is contesting claims of unfair dismissal by 23 former employees who were fired for sharing confidential information.
- The company argues that sharing sensitive information on a platform with "seriously lacking" security increases the risk of phishing attacks.
- The emails in question were sent by Rob Spampinato, the company's vice president of HR, and concerned guidelines for Slack channel usage.
- References to unannounced features of Grand Theft Auto VI were also discussed in the Discord group.
- The tribunal is hearing evidence from former employee Dayne Oram.
A former Rockstar Games employee committed an “egregious breach” of company policy when they posted internal emails from management in a Discord channel, a tribunal has heard. The company's lawyer, Thomas Cordrey, stated that Rockstar takes a "strict line" on information security and that managers would have reacted strongly to the possibility of such a breach.
Approximately 34 individuals were dismissed from Rockstar in October across the UK and Canada for allegedly sharing confidential company information. Twenty-three of these former employees are now participating in an employment tribunal, asserting they were unfairly dismissed due to their involvement in trade union activities. They are being represented by the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB).
Rockstar Games intends to contest the tribunal vigorously, accusing the former employees of violating confidentiality rules by discussing sensitive matters on a Discord server. During the tribunal, former employee Dayne Oram testified about posting emails from Rob Spampinato, the company's vice president of HR, which concerned guidelines for using Slack channels. Mr. Cordrey argued that posting the full text of these emails in a private Discord group of around 350 members, which included former employees, breached the company’s information-handling policies and constituted "gross misconduct."
Mx Oram disputed this, noting that the emails were sent to all staff and that they were unaware some members of the Discord group were no longer employed by Rockstar. They also suggested a difficulty in reconciling the company's information policy with staff rights to union participation, stating the sharing was necessary for union activities. The witness also addressed references to unannounced features of Grand Theft Auto VI within the group, which Mr. Cordrey argued could significantly impact investors and the share price of parent company Take-Two Interactive. Mx Oram countered that the information was discussed in the context of working conditions and not deemed project information, emphasizing the private nature of the channel and existing non-disclosure agreements.