Current and former Nintendo employees have reportedly refuted Nintendo’s claim that it fired a contractor for leaking information, saying the move instead looked like retaliation for pro-union comments the worker made at a meeting in February.
Multiple sources told Kotaku that a part-time contract worker had been fired before their contract had concluded after voicing support for unionization during a business meeting. When GameSpot asked Nintendo for comment on this earlier in the week, the company denied this was the reason for the firing, instead saying it was for “the disclosure of confidential information and for no other reason.”
But according to Kotaku’s sources, the post was vague to the point of it not warranting such an action, only possibly earning most a warning–not being terminated from the position. This suggests Nintendo may have been looking for a reason to let them go after the unionization comments, which would have been illegal on Nintendo’s part. However, the worker’s name has been omitted from the National Board of Labor Relations filing against Nintendo and it’s not clear what that social media post happened to be.
“Nintendo is not aware of any attempts to unionize or related activity and intends to cooperate with the investigation conducted by the NLRB,” Nintendo said in its statement to GameSpot on Thursday. “Nintendo is fully committed to providing a welcoming and supporting work environment for all our employees and contractors. We take matters of employment very seriously.”
