Overview
- After a two-day hearing, the Glasgow Employment Tribunal rejected the IWGB’s request to restore pay and, where applicable, work visas for 34 staff dismissed in October 2025.
- Judge Frances Eccles wrote it was not likely the tribunal would find that union membership was the principal reason for the dismissals, the standard required for interim relief.
- The ruling notes an IWGB Discord with roughly 350 members that included former staff and a games journalist, observes some dismissed workers posted very little, and records that three dismissed Canadians were not union members.
- Eccles also flagged procedural concerns, stating there were no suspensions or disciplinary hearings and that comments were obtained without employees’ knowledge, which claimants describe as covert monitoring.
- Rockstar welcomed the decision and maintains the dismissals were for sharing confidential information, and it has separately disclosed leak-related firings in Lincoln, India, and the United States; the IWGB says it will press on to a full hearing.