Fresh details emerge as fired Rockstar Games employees will not get interim pay

Fresh details have emerged in the ongoing civil case between Rockstar Games and the IWGB (The Independent Workers Union of Great Britain) trade union after 34 employees were sacked from the studio.

31 affected employees are from the UK and three in Canada, with IWGB accusing Rockstar of "union busting", claiming staff members were dismissed over "trade union activity" - but the GTA 6 developer said those staff were dismissed due to "gross misconduct".

The case has gone to an employment tribunal in Glasgow, which is an independent judicial body in the UK that resolves legal disputes between workers and employers.

Further public claims and statements made in court from the 31 UK employees said they had been fired for unionising whereas Rockstar said those fired workers were leaking sensitive information in a Discord channel that had hundreds of people in it, including staff who do not work for Rockstar.

There was a hearing where the fired employees applied for interim relief from Rockstar, which means they wanted the studio to put them back on the payroll while the case continues.

But this was rejected. To note, the bar for achieving an interim ruling such as this is higher than what will be considered in the final hearing.

Fired Rockstar Games workers will not get interim relief after their application was rejected in civil court / YUKI IWAMURA/AFP via Getty Images

A spokesperson for Rockstar has since told indy100 the studio's stance has been consistent throughout in that it did not know if the claimants were union members at the time of their dismissals, some who spoke in favour of unionisation but did not breach confidentiality rules were not dismissed and information shared in the Discord channel included GTA 6 features.

Following the verdict, IWGB has claimed "many procedural guidelines were broken in the process of firing these employees", Rockstar used "covert monitoring" to access the Discord union group (which the studio denies) and Rockstar's argument "resided largely on legal technicalities" and not acting "fairly and reasonably".

A date for the full hearing is yet to be announced.

A spokesperson for Rockstar said the studio "stands by" the action it took.

In a statement shared with indy100, a spokesperson said: "We welcome the decision, which is consistent with Rockstar's position throughout.

"We regret we were put in a position where dismissals were necessary but we stand by our course of action as supported by the outcome of this hearing."

In a statement posted on social media, IWGB said: "The judge's decision - that Rockstar will not be forced into providing emergency support to our members while they await trial - is disappointing but does nothing to dampen our hopes of winning justice when the full hearing takes place."

The case continues.

Elsewhere from indy100:

• GTA 6 studio fired employees share their heartbreaking stories of being sacked
• GTA 6 studio London offices hit with protests after more than 30 employees fired

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