Grindr targeted nascent union with return-to-office ultimatum, labor board alleges

When the LGBTQ+ dating app Grindr told its staff last year that the days of fully remote work were over, more than 80 employees — nearly half off the company — said they wouldn’t report to the company’s West Hollywood headquarters or other newly established offices around the country. As a result, they were let go.

Now, federal labor regulators say the company’s back-to-office order was an unlawful ploy to retaliate against the workers’ union organizing efforts.

In a recent complaint, the National Labor Relations Board’s regional office in Los Angeles accused Grindr of interfering with employees’ right to organize and refusing to recognize the union workers had elected to join, calling the company’s actions “serious and substantial unfair labor practice conduct.”

About the 120 of the company’s roughly 180 employees were poised to form a union bargaining unit represented by Communications Workers of America, according the complaint. All 80 of the terminated employees were part of that group.

The popular app, which uses a location-based model that allows users to browse potential dates in their area, has gone through several ownership changes in recent years, but has continued to post solid profits from a dedicated user base in the tens of millions.

“We hope this NLRB filing sends a clear message to Grindr that, with a union, we are committed to negotiating fair working conditions in good faith,” the union, Grindr United-CWA, said in a statement Monday.

Grindr called the allegations “meritless,” arguing it had alerted employees it would do away with its remote work culture before they went public with their union drive.

“Grindr team members work from one of our offices just two days per week under our hybrid work model, and our decision to transition from fully remote to hybrid work in 2023 predated the union election petition. It was only after it was known that the transition back to in-office work was underway that some employees began signing union cards,” Grindr spokesperson Emily Wright said in statement. “Our focus continues to be on ensuring Grindr remains an exceptional place for our team to work, and an invaluable resource for the global LGBTQ+ community.”

The complaint is the NLRB’s first step in litigating the case after investigating an unfair labor practice claim submitted by employees and finding merit to the allegations. If a settlement with Grindr is not reached, the case will be reviewed by an administrative law judge, who could order the company to take steps to address the issues in the complaint.

In interviews, two former employees said employees began the union effort in late 2022. They pointed to employees who they said had been laid off without clear reasons and unsettling remarks by their then-incoming chief executive George Arison in support of conservative figures who had made bigoted remarks about transgender people.

Workers went public with their campaign to join CWA in July 2023, and two weeks later the company delivered its return-to-office policy in an all-hands meeting conducted on a Zoom video call on Aug. 3, according to the NLRB complaint. Under the new rules, workers who had been living elsewhere were required to move to either the Los Angeles area, Chicago or San Francisco in order to be close to the Grindr office where their job was based. The company offered up to $15,000 to cover relocation expenses, or six months of severance pay for those who chose not to move.

One of the former employees, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals as he continues to search for a new job, said that although his contract designated him as having a remote assignment, he was nonetheless included in the back-to-office mandate.

The employee, who was a member of Grindr’s customer experience team, said the company was slow to provide information about the terms of the back-to-office order and that he was forced to decide in less than a day whether to agree to move. He and many others ultimately signed a severance agreement because they were unable to decide so quickly whether to uproot their lives, he said.

The second former employee, Leo Feldman, said he was not given an opportunity to commit to the hybrid work plan and alleges his involvement with the union was behind the decision to fire him from his job as product manager.

The company’s actions seemed intended to disrupt the union drive, he said, noting that some engineers living near the West Hollywood office, for example, were told they had to move to Chicago.

Despite the turmoil, Grindr appears to have satisfied investors with strong growth even as the broader dating app industry has slowed.

As one of three publicly traded dating app companies, Grindr dominates the dating app market along with Bumble and Match Group, which owns Tinder and Hinge. Bumble has seen its stock fall 46% so far this year after missing revenue estimates, but Grindr shares have risen nearly 70% this year, closing at $15.10 on Monday.

The company recently reported $89 million in revenue in the third quarter, up 27% from the same period last year. Net income during the same period grew to $25 million, compared to a loss of $437,000 a year ago. Grindr also saw a 15% year-over-year increase in the number of average paying users, reaching 1.1 million.

“Our product work starts with our users, their needs, their behaviors and their preferences,” Arison said in a recent earnings call. “We are setting Grindr up for another great year of growth in 2025.”

The company, however, continues to face criticism about its privacy practices: earlier this year, it was sued by hundreds of users in the United Kingdom for allegedly sharing personal information — including HIV status and test dates, ethnicity and sexual orientation — with advertising companies without users’ consent. Grindr has denied the claims.

Nick Jones, an equity research analyst at Citizens JMP, said Grindr is outpacing investor expectations and is not alone in requiring employees to return to in-person work.

“A lot of companies believe they can keep their employees more focused if they’re in office,” Jones said. “The market is indicating that this is not a problem for the company,” he added of the NLRB complaint.

Grindr Chief Product Officer AJ Balance said the app has set itself apart from others in the crowded online dating market and is working on new features.

Grindr’s unique user interface known as the grid allows for quick and abundant connections and avoids the swiping model that some users have grown tired of, he said.

“This was built by the community, for the community, which is part of why it really meets the needs of its users in a unique way and why it’s been differentiated as a product over time,” Balance said.