A scathing report from Kotaku yesterday evening outlined some alleged abhorrent behavior cultivated at Nintendo of America regarding allegations of sexual harassment.
A report from Axios surfaced last week that suggested Nintendo of America employees filed a second labour complaint with the National Labour Relations Board against the company which includes allegations of union busting, and general “second-class” treatment for workers unable to escape ‘contractor’ status and become full-time employees.
This report was compounded yesterday by Kotaku’s own report filled with more allegations that suggest further mistreatment was afoot among Nintendo of America’s employment practices, including allegations of misogyny, discrimination and sexual harassment. It’s worth noting Nintendo of America President, Doug Bowser said “Along with all of you, I’ve been following the latest developments with Activision Blizzard and the ongoing reports of sexual harassment and toxicity at the company. I find these accounts distressing and disturbing. They run counter to my values as well as Nintendo’s beliefs, values and policies,” regarding the recent Activision Blizzard lawsuits in an email last November.
The report featured conversations from “ten sources for this article who worked at Nintendo at different points of the past decade. They told a story of a corporate culture where sexist behavior was commonplace, and very little action was taken to address it.” A former worker going by the alias ‘Hannah’ gives the most damning testimony loaded with allegations. After reporting an incident she deemed inappropriate, she claimed:
That Aerotek management warned her to be less outspoken after she reported the incident. She said that her friends from the work group chat blamed her for reporting the incident, and that the only repercussion the translator faced was being assigned sexual harassment training. Aerotek had previously fired one of its contractors for making comments about the color of Hannah’s underwear, but the translator who made the sexual comments in group chat was a full-time Nintendo employee.
– Kotaku Report
The allegations Nintendo of America faces have been slowly building since the first complaint filed with the NLRB earlier this year in April, and have since gained steam culminating in this new set of allegations against Nintendo of America, and contracting employment company Aerotek (now called Aston Carter).
As of this posting, there has been no formal address from Nintendo of America or Aston Carter regarding these allegations, and all cases are still pending with no official decisions being handed out yet. Fans will have to wait and see how everything plays out regarding these reports.
