Lately,toxicity in the video game industryis an issue that gaming companies are trying to address and resolve on all levels. Recently, senior director of global delivery service for EA Ireland, Philippe Grenet, was fired for making an inappropriate comment to a female colleague.
It was reported in the High Court on November 9th that Grenet remarked next to another female colleague that he was not “going to pull [his] dick out and put it on the table to see who has the bigger dick.” Grenet denied making the comment in a one-to-one video conversation with a female colleague who is based in Austin Texas and said that what he actually said was “I don’t want to compare the length of my dick” with the colleague.
On Thursday, Grenet was granted a temporary injunction restraining his dismissal. He acknowledges that the remark was a clumsy, inelegant and ill-advised expression, and according to him, it means that he “did not want to challenge” that particular person on a work matter. He also claims, in an affidavit, that the member of his staff who made the complaint often exhibited a negative attitude towards him and had frequently undermined his authority as her manager. He further claims that the decision byElectronic Artsis flawed and was done in breach of fair procedures and in the absence of any proper investigative or disciplinary processes.
According to Grenet’s lawyer, allegations have been “twisted out of context” by someone who “wants to get rid” of Grenet. Because Grenet admitted to using the word “dick” in the conversation, though, he was nevertheless dismissed by Electronic Arts forgross misconductand breaching Electronic Arts' harassment and equality policy. While many may agree that Grenet’s dismissal was reasonable, some may feel that Electronic Arts' policy is too strict and that Grenet should not have been dismissed from his post for which he gets paid €160,000 per year.
