Telltale Games Hit with WARN Act Class Action Lawsuit Days After Company Shut Down

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Telltale Games, Inc. is the defendant in a proposed class action lawsuit filed just days after the company abruptly shut down without providing warning to its employees. Filed in California federal court, the eight-page lawsuit alleges Telltale Games ran afoul of the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988—the WARN Act—and state labor law by failing to provide written notice of the company’s September 21 closure to roughly 275 staff members at its San Rafael facility.

The complaint states the WARN Act mandates employers with 100 or more employees, who in aggregate work at least 4,000 hours per week (minus overtime), provide at least 60 days’ notice in the event of a mass termination. From the lawsuit: 

“The Defendant failed to pay the Aggrieved Employees their respective wages, salary, commissions, bonuses, accrued holiday pay and accrued vacation for 60 working days following their respective terminations, and failed to make the pension and 401(k) contributions, provide other employee benefits under ERISA, and pay their medical expenses for 60 calendar days from and after the dates of their respective terminations.”

As first reported by Ethan Gach at Kotaku, Telltale Games CEO Pete Hawley announced the company’s closure at a staff meeting with no prior indication that anything was wrong. In addition to the shock of Telltale’s shut down, employees were then reportedly informed by human resources that they would not be receiving severance and were instead encouraged to apply for unemployment.

The complaint can be read below.