Ubisoft Facing Collective Lawsuit From French Union Over Sexual Harassment Allegations

Back in June last year, you may recall that Ubisoft faced a wave of sexual misconduct accusations, one that led to several key employees stepping down. With reports re-emerging back in May that the French publisher had only made "minimal changes" following this, Ubisoft now face legal action.

Yesterday, French union Solidaires Informatique announced they've filed a collective action lawsuit against Ubisoft, alleging the French publisher has engaged in "institutional sexual harassment". While they'd initially announced their intent to file a lawsuit last year, they've now formally prepared this case.

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Ubisoft Facing Collective Lawsuit From French Union Over Sexual Harassment Allegations

Primarily, this targets several senior officials named within the initial allegations, several of whom have now resigned. That includes former Chief Creative Officer Serge Hascoët and his assistant, editorial department member Tommy François, and CEO Yves Guillemot. Multiple human resources staffers are also targeted, including former head of HR Cécile Cornet, who remains at Ubisoft in a new role.

Speaking about this collective lawsuit further, Solidaires Informatique released this statement:

The complaint targets the Ubisoft group as a legal person for institutional sexual harassment . For putting in place, maintaining and strengthening a system where sexual harassment is tolerated because it is more profitable for the company to keep harassers in place than to protect its employees. Harassment, tolerated and practiced by the upper echelons of the company, protected by the Human Resources departments, created a company-wide system. Beyond the list of people mentioned above, it is the cogs of this system that this complaint wants to dismantle.

Speaking to GIBiz, Ubisoft advised "We do not have further details regarding the claim filed against Ubisoft", who we're told pointed GIBiz towards Yves Guillemot's statement back in May. Understandably, this holds potentially huge ramifications for the French publisher, and we'll keep you informed when we learn more.