Grindr Workers to Hold Union Election Amid Return-to-Office Spat

Employees at the LGBTQ+ dating app Grindr will vote on unionization later this month after a National Labor Relations Board official gave the green light for the mail-ballot election.

NLRB Regional Director Mori Rubin ruled Tuesday that the group of around 100 employees can vote on whether they want to be represented by the Communications Workers of America. Workers will begin receiving ballots Nov. 22 and the election will end Dec. 13.

The decision comes nearly four months after the workers first petitioned to unionize, and over two months after the dating platform announced a strict return-to-office policy that caused nearly half of its employees to resign. The union alleged in an August complaint that the RTO policy was retaliation for the organization drive.

In her decision, Rubin shot down arguments by the company that its product managers should be considered supervisors and therefore unable to unionize under federal labor law. The product managers don’t hold enough power in directing other employees to be considered supervisors, she said.

The Washington-Baltimore News Guild, which is affiliated with the Communications Workers of America, represents employees of Bloomberg Law.

Representatives for the union and company didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

The case is Grindr, LLC, N.L.R.B. Reg’l Dir., No. 31-RC-322155, 11/14/23.