Discrimination Lawsuit Filed By Employees of Riot Games

​On November 5th, current and former employees of Riot Games filed a class action lawsuit against the publisher, alleging that Riot denied them equal pay and stifled their careers solely because they were women. Additionally, the two women allege that they encountered constant harassment in a work environment that punished them for speaking up. The complaint contains multiple allegations against Riot including: (1) a violation of California’s Equal Pay Act; (2) a discrimination and retaliation claim in violation of that same Act; (3) discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims in violation of the Fair Employment & Housing Act; and (4) a claim for failure to prevent discrimination.
 
This lawsuit comes on the heels of an investigative report published by Kotaku in August that discussed Riot’s toxic working environment and the sexist culture of the company. In that report, Jessica Negron, a former employee and current plaintiff, shed light on her experiences within the company, including multiple incidents of harassment, discrimination based on her gender, and a pattern of pay inequity. In one instance, Negron recounted an experience where she did not receive adequate compensation or a change in her job title after assuming the role of her recently departed manager. After fulfilling the manager’s job duties for a lengthy period of time, management denied her request for increased pay and eventually filled the role with three consecutive male employees.
 
The complaint reiterates many of the incidents that were written in the Kotaku article and includes additional experiences in detail. In another instance of the alleged toxic work environment at Riot, Negron alleges that a former supervisor expressed his appreciation for the lack of diversity within the company, “because gaming culture is the last remaining safe haven for white teen boys.”
 
The second plaintiff, current Riot employee Melanie McCracken, described numerous occasions where her coworkers allegedly subjected her to sexism. In one specific encounter with her former supervisor, the supervisor allegedly communicated an outright opposition to hiring women for senior employment roles. The complaint states that the supervisor told McCracken that he would “feel weird having a male” as an assistant. Later, when McCracken filed an anonymous complaint with Riot Human Resources department, the HR employee relayed the encounter to management, which allegedly led to McCracken’s former supervisor advising her that she had five months to find a new position or be fired.
 
If all the incidents described in the complaint are proven to be true, including class action certification (which is difficult to achieve), it would seem likely that the plaintiffs would prevail on their claims should this case reach verdict. However, many of these kind of cases never reach verdict due to a settlement being reached. Settlement is oftentimes seen as a means of helping prevent negative PR stemming from the lawsuit and its allegations. Nonetheless, the alleged incidents described in the complaint and Kotaku’s article should be deemed a cautionary tale to other companies within the video game industry, which has an unfortunately long history of alleged discriminatory practices.