Bungie, the original creators of the Halo franchise and developers of both the ongoing Destiny 2 and the upcoming Marathon, is reportedly being sued by a former HR manager who alleges they were wrongfully terminated for reporting a case of racial discrimination.
According to a report from Rebekah Valentine for IGN, former HR manager Ingrid Alm has filed a lawsuit against Bungie for behaviors viewed as retaliatory following her actions during a case where she investigated racial bias and alleges she was forced out of her job involuntarily and wrongfully.
Alm alleges that this began a few months after she was hired in May 2022, when she was instructed to “investigate the performance” of an employee. This employee, referred to as “James Smith,” allegedly told Alm that he felt he was being “singled out and racially targeted by his supervisor” as the one Black employee on a team of 50 people.
Alm allegedly recommended the supervisor undergo diversity training but this was denied. Alm says Bungie recommended terminating Smith afterwards, but she says she went to Bungie’s director of equity and inclusion, Dr. Courtney Benjamin, who said that terminating Smith would not be wise. Alm then says she received an angry email from her supervisor for approaching Benjamin and later received a poor performance review before being told by her supervisor to look for an exit from the company.
Finally, Alm was informed in September 2022 that her “resignation had been accepted,” despite insisting that she wanted to keep her job, and declining to sign a document that said she had voluntarily resigned. This allegedly occurred after her “email and Bungie platform access [were] cut off without explanation,” and after her alleged attempts to contact supervisors and higher ups were ignored.
Bungie has reportedly denied “almost every part of Alm’s narrative.” As noted by IGN, Alm was hired after the outlet’s report on Bungie’s work culture that featured over 25 employees alleging that a toxic work culture had festered there.
