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Former Telltale Games employee sues company after mass layoffs

The plaintiff alleges the video game studio violated labor laws.

Abrar Al-Heeti Technology Reporter
Abrar Al-Heeti is a technology reporter for CNET, with an interest in phones, streaming, internet trends, entertainment, pop culture and digital accessibility. She's also worked for CNET's video, culture and news teams. She graduated with bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Though Illinois is home, she now loves San Francisco -- steep inclines and all.
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Abrar Al-Heeti
2 min read
wd402-nightmare

An image from Telltale's The Walking Dead game. A former employee is suing the video game studio for allegedly violating labor laws after mass layoffs. 

Telltale

A former Telltale Games employee is suing the company for allegedly violating labor laws after it laid  off hundreds of employees Friday

The suit, which seeks class-action status, was filed in federal court in San Francisco on Monday by attorneys for Vernie Roberts, Jr. Roberts alleges that Telltale violated the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) and its California counterpart by failing to give employees "at least 60 days' advance written notice of termination."

Telltale laid off the majority of its staff last week before saying it was planning to shut down. Only 25 employees remain to "fulfill the company's obligations to its board and partners."

Telltale is known for games like The Walking Dead, Batman, Minecraft Story Mode and The Wolf Among Us. It was working on a Stranger Things game for Netflix before Telltale's collapse. 

In his complaint, Roberts says Telltale laid off about 275 employees and didn't provide severance. He also alleges that Telltale violated WARN by failing to pay laid-off employees "their respective wages, salary, commissions, bonuses, accrued holiday pay and accrued vacation for 60 working days following their respective terminations." He also says the company failed to provide employee benefits, including 401(k) contributions and medical expenses for 60 days following the layoffs. 

Roberts demands Telltale compensate laid-off employees with an amount equalling their unpaid wages, salary, commissions, bonuses, accrued holiday pay, accrued vacation pay, pension and 401 (k) contributions and other benefits for 60 days after their termination. 

Telltale didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Here's the full suit: