Nintendo resolved a legal dispute with a former contract QA tester, accepting a payment of $25,910 and posting a notice informing QA workers of their right to unionize, both in email and in physical form. .
The tester filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in April. Both Nintendo of America and Ashton Carter’s staffing agency have reached an agreement. Ashton Carter has assumed responsibility for the complaint and will provide the aforementioned payment.
Payment consists of late payments, damages and interest in accordance with settlement documents obtained by Polygon. These documents include the exact message that Nintendo of America is now legally required to send to its QA employees and contractors, although the NLRB has redacted parts of it.
This is the notice Nintendo will have to post, drafted by the NLRB. It must also be emailed to all Nintendo of America testers (contractors or otherwise).
Redactions by the NLRB for the sake of this FOIA filing pic.twitter.com/DjBx4Peald
– Esteban Totilo (@stephentotilo) October 13, 2022
The former employee in question, Mackenzie Clifton, alleged that she was fired for asking Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser about unionization. Shortly afterward, Nintendo denied this claim, stating that Clifton was fired for publicly disclosing confidential company information. When Clifton asked for evidence, Nintendo pointed to a vague tweet she made that said a glitch had caused an unknown game she was working on to turn completely red.
The settlement does not state what the NLRB found, and the terms of the settlement do not include Clifton’s request for a letter of apology. This settlement comes after multiple reports of workplace mistreatment and sexual harassment in Nintendo of America’s quality control departments.
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