Sega takes legal action against individual for harassment of its employee and warns that a similar response awaits anyone else who tries
Sega Corporation made an announcement on July 17 regarding their response to a specific case of “slander and extreme acts of harassment” towards one of their employees. The notice also warns users to heed the company’s Customer Harassment Policy, as they intend to remain firm in taking action against offenders. Sega’s attitude towards the issue has earned praise from industry professionals.
According to the announcement, Sega has taken legal action against an individual who continuously made excessive defamatory and insulting remarks about one of its employees via social media. The company was granted disclosure of the perpetrator’s identity by the court, and has requested damages on behalf of the victim. In addition, the individual has been ordered to delete all instances of insulting and slanderous remarks and to refrain from similar acts in the future.
Sega states that it considers acts of harassment against its employees to be a “serious human rights issue that damages the dignity of employees and deteriorates the work environment.” Thus, the company intends to continue to take action against any malicious behavior towards employees.
While most companies generally have similar policies to Sega’s, it is not so common to see them put into action nor spoken about so publicly. This has earned Sega some praise in online circles, as well as from industry professionals. In response to the company’s post on social media, game developer Taira Nakamura commented, “Harassment is something I also suffered with when I was in the position of producer, and it’s so reassuring to see a company take action in this way and talk about it publicly to deter others (from committing acts of harassment).”