PAWTUCKET – A class-action lawsuit has been filed against Hasbro Inc. in connection to a data breach the toy maker reported earlier this month.
Led by former Hasbro employee Sheila Standing, current and former Hasbro employees claim in their lawsuit filed in Federal District Court in Providence on April 16 that company has not been transparent about what information was compromised.
The plaintiffs also allege Hasbro was negligent in protecting employees’ personal information and failed to protect their privacy.
The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of monetary damages and "injunctive relief," including stronger cybersecurity measures and lifetime credit monitoring, monetary damages, restitution and attorneys’ fees.
Representatives from Hasbro did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
On April 1, Hasbro took some of its systems offline after identifying a cybersecurity breach from March, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Hasbro reported that it identified unauthorized access to its network on March 28. The company promptly activated its security-incident response protocols, implemented containment measures, including proactively taking certain systems offline, and launched an investigation with the assistance of third-party cybersecurity professionals, the company said.
Business-continuity plans were implemented to enable Hasbro to continue to take orders, ship products and conduct other key operations while it resolves this situation, according to the filing. Hasbro added that the interim measures may continue for several weeks before the situation is fully resolved and could cause some delays.
The full impact of the breach is being investigated.
On Sept. 8, Hasbro officially announced it plans to move its headquarters from Pawtucket to the Seaport District in Boston at 400 Summer St.
The new space in Boston will house at least 700 full-time Hasbro employees. The company expects the transition from Rhode Island to Boston to be completed by the end of this year.
Hasbro plans to list its Pawtucket headquarters and adjacent building at 1027 Newport Ave when it moves to Boston in December. The commercial and industrial property is approximately 343,000 square feet and was appraised at $23.4 million in 2023.
