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A formerCrunchyrollemployee claimed on LinkedIn that he experienced hostility inside the company after being diagnosed with depression.Shawn Hoffmanwas a Senior Software Engineer at the company, according to his own profile on the social media.
In his post, he said that he wasdiagnosed with major depression and anxietyafter his mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He then requested ADA (American with Disabilities Act) accommodation – and, instead of support,he was met with hostility.
A manager cursed him during an online conference, and made an obscene gesture – a middle finger. No further context about it was informed (although it may be hard to imagine any context in which this gesture would be acceptable).
Former Employee Claims Upper Management Knew Everything
At the time, he took a screenshot of the gesture and added it to the post. According to this post, he reported the incident inside the company, and noticed a shift in the way he was treated. Apparently, no action was taken regarding his manager.
He kept raising concerns about it, and, shortly after,Crunchyroll fired him, alleging a policy violation– he doesn’t state which kind of policy he was accused of violating. Then he claims that Crunchyroll offered him severance in exchange for his silence.
I raised concerns about workplace treatment, professionalism, and respect. Shortly after, Crunchyroll made the decision to terminate my employment, citing a ‘policy violation’.
Then they offered me severance in exchange for silence.
The manager in this photo? He remains employed.
Meanwhile, I am now without income while I care for my mother, a 52-year-old substitute teacher, who is battling cancer in a broken U.S. healthcare system that has left her unable to afford treatment.
Leadership knew. HR knew. Yet this is how they responded.
Crunchyroll hasn’t made any statementabout the incident so far – given previous occasions in which people spoke up about alleged abuses by the company, they are unlikely to address the issue.
Crunchyroll Has Been Under Fire Recently
The past few months have been rough for Crunchyroll. In November, voice actor and ADR director David Waldclaimed that the company tampered with his mail– he stated that he would reveal more details on Twitch at a later date, but hasn’t done it so far.
Then, in December, another shocking report came out: according toBloomberg, after interviewing 18 employees or former employees, the work environment has changed following the acquisition of the company by Sony.
Not only are employees unhappy with the way things are going inside the company, but manyJapanese companies are also dissatisfiedwith the marketing strategies undertaken by the company to promote their titles. Crunchyroll replied to Bloomberg’s request for comments via email, stating that the company offers everything that anime fans could want.
