Sat, Apr 04, 2009 | 22:39 BST

Microsoft settles gay harassment suit by ex-Lionhead employee

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Microsoft has settled the gay harassment lawsuit brought against it by ex-Lionhead developer Jamie Durrant, reports Pinknews.

That didn’t take too long did it?

Although actual settlement details are being kept under wraps, a Microsoft spokesperson said one of the stipulations of the deal was that Durrant would forfeit his position at Lionhead.

“We are pleased to have reached an amicable resolution to this matter with Mr Durrant. The terms of the settlement are confidential, but we can confirm that Mr. Durrant will not continue his employment at Lionhead as part of the agreement,” said the spokesperson.

“Microsoft has a longstanding commitment to diversity. We attract, recruit and respect diverse talent and we have included sexual orientation in our anti-discrimination policies for 20 years.

“Our efforts have been recognized by a wide range of groups, including the Human Rights Campaign Foundation in its 2009 Corporate Equality Index. We do not tolerate breaches of our code of business conduct and take any complaints extremely seriously.

“Throughout this process, those to whom Mr Durrant brought his concerns have taken them seriously and concrete actions have been taken to address them.

“Neither Mr Durrant’s sexual orientation nor the nature of his complaint had any bearing on the way it was handled.”

So there ya go.

15 comments

Gekidami
04/04/09, 10:02 pm

The lawsuit was homophobic?

Patrick Garratt
04/04/09, 10:39 pm

Fair point.

SilentLoner
04/04/09, 10:51 pm

Isn’t this constructive dismissal even after the “agreement” the man had to leave his employer in order to reach an agreement?

Whats the punishment for Lionhead?

Hunam
04/04/09, 11:56 pm

Not dissmissal, but clearly bringing a suit to your company will only cause more tension, so I’d wager the people involved will be given strict written warning. Maybe he was asked to leave because maybe he jumped the gun, chain wise, maybe he sent an e-mail to someone, didn’t get a response that exact minute so called the lawyers in.

My guesstimate anyway.

SilentLoner
05/04/09, 1:40 am

Fair point but I have experienced bullying in the workplace and its awful so I wish they would be brought to the sword.

Hunam
05/04/09, 1:58 am

Depends how much of it is true but bullying in the work place is just lunacy. It’s a job, you don’t like the people, just ignore them.

Adults are worse than kids by a long shot.

OrphanageExplosion
05/04/09, 5:51 am

This is just so gay, it’s unbelievable.

lelik
05/04/09, 8:23 am

if microsofts abused me i’d try to settle for something much more precious than moneys. i’d ask for bill gates to bake me one of his famous vista powered 64 bit computer cakes. DELICIOUS.

SilentLoner
05/04/09, 8:36 am

The person bullying me was my boss who ran the firm as it was his firm ie noone higher than him So how do you expect me to ignore him?

I left and found another job.

#10

Shatner
05/04/09, 11:09 am

MS were right to get this dealt with as quickly and quietly as possible. Seems a little off that the only details they’re happy to disclose is that the bullied employee is no longer working at the developer. I wonder what’s happened to the bullies?

#11

David
05/04/09, 12:11 pm

they probably will be punished but privately.

#12

Grimrita
05/04/09, 1:15 pm

forced to work on vista updates for the rest of their lives

#13

SticKboy
05/04/09, 2:25 pm

GROUP HUG, EVERYBODY!

#14

wz
05/04/09, 7:25 pm

No.