Grindr's abrupt RTO was 'union busting' move

Grindr changed its remote-work policy "out of the blue," demanding employees return to the office in retaliation for a union drive after previously telling them they could keep teleworking, U.S. labor board prosecutors told an agency judge.

"Grindr told its employees many, many times in spring and summer 2023, that the remote work benefits were secure," Joseph Meeker, an attorney for the U.S. National Labor Relations Board, said at a May 13 hearing, according to a transcript obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. "Then employees announced they were unionizing, and only two weeks later, Grindr changed its mind."

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An NLRB judge in Los Angeles is currently considering allegations that the LGBTQ dating company violated federal labor law by using a return-to-office mandate to force out about half of its staff in an attempt to thwart unionization. The agency's prosecutors brought the case against Grindr in November, at the end of President Joe Biden's term, seeking an order that would force the company to negotiate with the union. Under the NLRB's acting general counsel William Cowen, who President Donald Trump appointed as the NLRB's top prosecutor in February, the agency has continued forging ahead with the case.

Meeker said at the hearing that the acting general counsel is also considering asking a federal judge to issue an injunction against Grindr while the NLRB case proceeds, further escalating a dispute that became a high-profile flashpoint amid a broader push to get employees across industries back into offices.

A spokesperson for the NLRB declined to comment about the ongoing hearing, which is slated to resume later this month. Grindr did not respond to inquiries.

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The company has denied wrongdoing, saying that employees began signing union cards to join the Communications Workers of America union only after it was known that a transition back to the office was underway. In a January filing, the company also argued that the NLRB's structure is unconstitutional, echoing an argument popularized by Elon Musk's SpaceX in its own face-off with the agency. Grindr's attorney reiterated at the hearing that the company is "not guilty," saying he would save his own opening statement for later in the proceeding.

At the hearing, Meeker said that before employees announced their union drive, Grindr had "consistently reassured" its workers that even if future employees were required to come into the office, "nothing was going to change" for those already on staff. After the union effort was announced, "Suddenly, Grindr forced its employees to move across the country or give up their jobs," the acting general counsel's attorney told the judge. "This is retaliation. That is union busting."

Many of the workers forced out by Grindr's return-to-office change ended up being replaced with contractors who work remotely, Meeker added.

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Grindr has touted the rebuilding of its workforce since the mass departures. In the first quarter, it grew its headcount 13% year over year to 146, Chief Executive Officer George Arison wrote in a letter to shareholders in May. The company also said in March it had more than 20 engineers in Colombia at the end of 2024, and that nearly three-quarters of the North American team was hired since Arison became CEO in late 2022.

"In some ways that's really helpful because they've been hired with a clear understanding of the culture that we have, and we do have a very high performance-driven, hard-charging, clear accountability culture," Arison told analysts in March.

The case could drag on for a long time. NLRB judges' rulings can be appealed to the labor board's members in Washington DC, and from there into federal court. The agency currently lacks a quorum to consider such appeals, because Trump fired Democratic member Gwynne Wilcox, saying he did not trust her to treat employers fairly. A federal judge ruled that termination was illegal, but the U.S. Supreme Court decided to let Trump oust Wilcox for now while her case proceeds.