Gaming firm, union reach out of court settlement on planned lay-offs

The General Workers Union has withdrawn its application for a warrant of prohibitory injunction to block a mass lay-off plan by gaming company NetEnt after both sides reached an agreement following talks.

The news emerged when the case started being heard in the First Hall, Civil Court, presided over by Mr Justice Toni Abela, on Thursday. 

No details of the agreement were divulged in open court, with both sides informing journalists present that a statement will be issued later. It is understood that the company will be laying off fewer people than originally planned. 

The application had been filed by the union last week after the Qormi-based studio of NetEnt began to lay off hundreds of workers.

More than 300 workers at the company's Qormi studio were told their services were no longer required on 1 December.

The plan appeared to have been looming on the horizon ever since the €2 billion company had been taken over by Evolution Gaming.

That unexpected move had prompted the Union to register an industrial dispute with both gaming companies, claiming that they were breaching the law on collective redundancies. They were planning to lay off 324 people.

The GWU argued that NetEnt had failed to abide by local and European laws regulating collective redundancies.

Lawyer Aaron Mifsud Bonnici represented the union while lawyer Paul Gonzi appeared for the gaming firm.