Considering the typically ambiguous wording of the guy from CA's statement, it's not clear whether CA considers this a major gameplay bug, a minor nuisance, or an embarrassing revelation of shortcuts they made to achieve the desired unit balance.

From a conversation a forum member had with someone from CA:

Quote Originally Posted by Lusted
I also mentioned the shield bug to him(looks like CA changed the way shields worked and this was an unfortunate side effect)
However, was the unfortunate side effect known about before the game was released? The answer to that question may lead to which of the following idealized conversations are going on, or have gone on at developer HQ:

1. "Drat. They found our shield factor. Alright, redo the engine for the next patch so that the unit balance is roughly maintained, but so that the factor doesn't show up in homebrew testing."

2. "God's Nipples! I want that prog's head on a plate! This means that all shielded units have been underpowered in melee versus unshielded units and against units with smaller shields. Fix it for the next patch."