Punks With Purpose, the group of mostly former BrewDog staff that complained about the brewery's 'toxic work culture' last summer, has responded to statements made by chief executive James Watt.
In responding to a Guardian article earlier this week, which revealed he had sought the services of a private investigator to look into the claims being made against him, he stated that one of Punks With Purpose's founders is implicated in a legal complaint for blackmail.
A statement from the group sought to "categorically refute" this, adding that none of its founding, or current, members have been contacted by BrewDog, James Watt, lawyers representing either party, or the police.
"We are saddened to hear that BrewDog would have private investigators to intimidate ex-staff and BBC sources for the documentary The Truth About BrewDog," read the statement. "This highlights that the supposedly non-existent culture of fear remains alive and well, and intimidation is still a key tactic for BrewDog’s management."
It added: "We call on BrewDog to end all intimidation of ex-staff immediately, and to open avenues of discussion with them to fully address their concerns and to allow them to help BrewDog grow into the force of good it should and can still hopefully be within the craft beer industry."
It concluded by encouraging all those impacted by "intimidatory actions" to register a case with Hand and Heart’s affected workers registration platform.
A statement on that website explained that founding members of Punks With Purpose have been falsely misrepresented of participating in a ''criminal conspiracy'', alongside Charlotte Cook, a participant of the program but not a founding member or a spokesperson.
"James Watt has used the media and public channels to assert members who have been seeking accountability through positive actions are in fact, a part of a two-year-long criminal campaign," it read.
"We feel that if Watt continues to use his digital platforms to perpetuate these assertions which we believe to be false, then we should outline the actions being taken to challenge these claims.
"To that end, we will not provide any information on criminal matters currently with law enforcement, as that would be a breach of current legislation as it relates to discussing or accusing individuals/companies of criminal actions.
"We only seek to provide to, and take professional action, to vindicate those falsely accused or misrepresented in Watt’s public, hysterical campaign of misinformation."
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