Gay (Ex)Lionhead Dev Settles Harassment Suit
Microsoft has settled the lawsuit brought against it by former Lionhead developer Jamie Durrant, who sued the big M for £45,000 after allegedly enduing homophobic harassment in his workplace, where he is said to have been called "fag boy Jim" and worse by his colleagues.
The two parties reached an agreement this week in London, although the terms of the settlement agreement are confidential. A Microsoft mouthpiece said:
"We are pleased to have reached an amicable resolution to this matter with Mr. Durrant. The terms of the settlement are confidential, but we can confirm that Mr. Durrant will not continue his employment at Lionhead as part of the agreement."Microsoft has a longstanding commitment to diversity. We attract, recruit and respect diverse talent and we have included sexual orientation in our anti-discrimination policies for 20 years.
"Our efforts have been recognised by a wide range of groups, including the Human Rights Campaign Foundation in its 2009 Corporate Equality Index. We do not tolerate breaches of our code of business conduct and take any complaints extremely seriously.
"Throughout this process, those to whom Mr. Durrant brought his concerns have taken them seriously and concrete actions have been taken to address them.
"Neither Mr. Durrant's sexual orientation nor the nature of his complaint had any bearing on the way it was handled."
It's good to see Microsoft reference its 20-year commitment to equality in the workplace, since it was one of the very first companies to include sexual orientation in its nondiscrimination policies, way back in 1989.
Also notice that Microsoft went out of its way to reassert that the HR team handling Durrant's original complaints did not err or treat his complaint differently because of his sexuality. Having seen HR departments slip the noose time and time again myself, I'm not entirely sure I buy that last bit, but that's not as important as a high-ish profile case that makes it just that much harder for homophobia to beleaguer the workplace.
Microsoft 'homophobia' tribunal ends in settlement [PinkNews]
[Thanks to Phillip for the tip!]
tiny dancer
Posted to Hot Stuff, Miscellany on 3 April 2009
· Comments (13)
"We do not tolerate breaches of our code of business conduct and take any complaints extremely seriously"
If this was true then why has this whole thing even taken place?
Because it's a massive corporation, which can't possibly watch the conduct of thousands of people all the time.
Also, kudos to Microsoft for admitting complete fault and settling amicably, I see no reason to heap anything but praise for Microsoft's professionalism and tolerance policies.
But don't let me stating facts get in the way of slating M$ [the dollar represents money in a hilariously witty textual pun]
I hope he got a lot more than the £45k he was asking for.... since he no longer has a job there.
@ BearFamily/Neo: Call me crazy, but maybe this has something to do with the fact that Microsoft proper exists on another continent than Lionhead.
I would imagine that it would take a while to move up the bureaucratic chain to reach someone at Microsoft's head office for something like this and the situation quickly got out of hand (as MS even admits fault on this). MS has been a great supporter of LGBT people in the past (granted, I only know things through second hand experience) and I think it is pretty significant to see how quickly they moved to make this all "better." At the end of the day, I think this whole situation says more about Lionhead's local work climate than it does about MS as whole.
Just my two cents.
That a fair statement, but theirs is an extremely blanketed one for its entire corporation. Which is what I was picking at.
Not to pooh-pooh this or anything, but I'd really prefer honoring somebody with news who actually convinced his co-workers that he was a cool guy and earns their respect instead of suing the company he works for. Just my two eurocent.
@The Tek Guy: But when that doesn't work? (because, lets be honest, it usually doesn't)
I'm surprised this happened, since Lionhead makes some of the most sexuality-neutral games out there. Fable is one of the few games where you can have same-sex relationships.
@The Tek Guy:
OK, so you're saying if someone at my work calls me "Fag Boy David", it's my job to convince them that i'm cool? Because being gay is equated with being uncool? Do you have no knowledge of civil rights?
Work is work. You go to work, and get paid, to do a job, not to make friends and impress other people with how cool you are. You should never be subjected to harassment in the work place. In order to sue the company he would have to prove that he was harassed and there was nothing done about it when he brought it to the company's attention. I think at that point, the company, no matter what their marketing publicists say, failed in this situation.
@The Tek Guy:
OK, so you're saying if someone at my work calls me "Fag Boy David", it's my job to convince them that i'm cool? Because being gay is equated with being uncool? Is that how you deal with homophobia, go convince the guys that you're "just one of the guys", brah? Do you have no knowledge of civil rights?
Work is work. You go to work and get paid to do a job, not to make friends and impress other people with how cool you are. You should never be subjected to harassment in the work place. In order to sue the company he would have to prove that he was harassed and there was nothing done about it when he brought it to the company's attention. I think at that point, the company, no matter what their marketing publicists say, failed in this situation.
Just to clarify my point: If he goes to Lionhead to earn money and not be part of a team, then sure, sue the hell out of them. But if you're an accepted part of a team - which is the way I prefer to work - then such measures are not necessary. Nobody will harass you for your sexuality if you're a respected part of their community. Lionhead especially seems like a place where homosexuality would be widely accepted, just look at the games they make. And he worked in the graphics department for crying out loud! I don't know what transpired there to incite this harassment, but I doubt it was him being gay. Sorry if I'm wrong.
On a sidenote, the gaygamer network has to be one of the top visited sites by gay industry professionals. It shouldn't really be hard to find someone who is out at their workplace and being accepted as a team member. I'd love to see gaygamer interview or otherwise cover those kinds of people, show how it could work, not how it isn't.
@ Tek Guy
How do you know he wasn't part of the "team" or their "community" and these guys were the problem?
Way late post, my RSS is totally backed up, but what worries me here is that he ends up getting marked as the problem. He's the one removed from his employment, and whatever check he received is just more reason for the actual problems to resent him. It all reminds me of the lesbian booted from Live for attracting harassment. They're killing the patient instead of curing the disease.