Frontier Developments—Laid off 50-200 workers using 'dehumanizing' Bradford Factor that penalized sick employees
In October 2023, Frontier announced layoffs affecting 50-200 of ~800 employees. A GLHF investigation revealed the layoff process was 'three months of hell': the Bradford Factor subtracted up to -200 points from performance scores for absences including hospital stays for pneumonia or PTSD treatment. Employees had to provide therapist letters to justify sick days. A senior community manager called it 'humiliating, dehumanizing, and cruel.' Those who criticized management or used sad face/clown emojis in Slack were labeled 'hostile' and allegedly targeted. Only minimum legal severance was provided.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Worker Rights | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.858 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.57)
Evidence (1 signal)
Laid off 50-200 workers using 'dehumanizing' Bradford Factor that penalized sick employees
In October 2023, Frontier announced layoffs affecting 50-200 of ~800 employees. A GLHF investigation revealed the layoff process was 'three months of hell': the Bradford Factor subtracted up to -200 points from performance scores for absences including hospital stays for pneumonia or PTSD treatment. Employees had to provide therapist letters to justify sick days. A senior community manager called it 'humiliating, dehumanizing, and cruel.' Those who criticized management or used sad face/clown emojis in Slack were labeled 'hostile' and allegedly targeted. Only minimum legal severance was provided.