The labor union of Unity Technologies Korea (hereafter Unity Korea) held a protest on April 16, alleging that the company has been using unfair means to get employees to resign, according to reports by ThisIsGame and ChosunBiz.
In parallel with large-scale layoffs in Unity’s headquarters, the workforce of Unity Korea has reportedly been downsized from 230 to 120 people. However, since South Korea’s labor laws make it difficult for employers to carry out on-the-spot mass layoffs (like in the US), the union claims Unity Korea purposely placed employees on “standby” (i.e., excluded them from work) and introduced wage cuts to encourage voluntary resignations.
Allegedly, this started late last year, when Unity Korea suddenly put a group of employees it had hired less than six months prior on standby. The status of these employees was later converted to a leave of absence, leading to their wages being reduced to 70%. The labor union criticized this as a loophole designed to circumvent local labor laws related layoffs and argued that “in the IT industry, indefinite exclusion from work leads to a decline in skills and a career gap, effectively creating a system that coerces employees into leaving on their own.”
On the other hand, Unity Korea maintains that all measures related to personnel strictly adhere to procedures stipulated by domestic labor laws.
