The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is accusing Activision Blizzard of withholding raises from QA staff at its Raven Software subsidiary as a direct outcome their union exercise.

As reported by The Washington Post, Raven testers voted to unionize earlier this 12 months after protracted discussions with Activision Blizzard that noticed some staff accuse the Call of Duty writer of union busting in a bid to “thwart” their efforts.

Now, after an investigation into the matter, the NLRB has discovered that Activision Blizzard deliberately withheld raises from these concerned in unionization efforts.

With the investigation now full, Activision Blizzard and Raven testers will proceed their efforts to strike a collective bargaining settlement. If a deal cannot be agreed, nonetheless, there’s now an opportunity the NLRB may file a criticism in opposition to Activision Blizzard and even search to prosecute the case in federal courtroom.

Speaking to Game Developer in regards to the matter, an Activision Blizzard spokesperson stated the writer was unable to difficulty raises on account of authorized obligations specified by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

“Regarding the discovering that the corporate withheld raises: Due to authorized obligations below the NLRA requiring employers to not grant wage will increase whereas an election was pending, we couldn’t institute new pay initiatives at Raven as a result of they might be model new sorts of compensation modifications, which had not been deliberate beforehand. This rule that employers shouldn’t grant these sorts of wage will increase has been the regulation for a few years,” commented the corporate.

Activision Blizzard can be disputing claims that Activision Blizzard president and COO, Daniel Alegre, tried to fulfill with bargaining Raven staff earlier than they succeeded in unionizing below the Game Workers Alliance banner in a bid to discover ways to undermine their efforts.

“Regarding the discovering that the corporate tried to undermine the union by soliciting grievances: This just isn’t an correct portrayal of occasions. Although Raven QA was supplied a non-mandatory alternative to fulfill with Activision Blizzard management throughout an on-site go to, as a result of a number of the QA testers had beforehand requested a dialogue with administration, at no level was this framed as a chance to particularly handle grievances. Furthermore, the provide was by no means taken, and no assembly ever occurred,” stated an Activision Blizzard spokesperson.

Former NLRB lawyer and USC lecturer Thomas Lenz informed Game Developer that firms making modifications throughout a unionizing marketing campaign is a “delicate difficulty” below current labor regulation. “The Board has lengthy taken the place that modifications made throughout an organizing marketing campaign are presumed illegal,” he famous. That leaves firms like Activision Blizzard within the place of getting to elucidate that deliberate modifications (like raises for QA staff) have been a part of a longtime plan or apply that pre-dated unionizing exercise.”

He famous that even when the deliberate raises existed earlier than the unionizing effort started, “how the employer communicates that’s vital.”

When requested in regards to the Board’s discovering that Activision Blizzard “attributed” the denial of raises to the union exercise, Lenz identified that even when Activision Blizzard did not intend for any such communication make such a connection, an errant remark by administration may need thrown that each one into query. “Sometimes folks say issues not understanding the potential repercussions,” he famous wrly.

Activision Blizzard’s spokesperson stated that the corporate will “look ahead” to defending its place earlier than each the NLRB litigation course of, and if mandatory, the appeals courtroom course of.

Update 10/4: This story has been up to date with remark from former NLRB lawyer and USC lecturer Thomas Lenz.