One current and one former employee have filed a lawsuit against Riot Games, claiming the company favored male employees and mistreated female employees.
According to the lawsuit, Riot Games denied equal pay to many of the female employees and subjected them to sexual harassment.
“Moreover, Plaintiffs have also seen their working conditions negatively impacted because of the ongoing sexual harassment, misconduct, and bias which predominate the sexually-hostile working environment of Riot Games,” the lawsuit claims.
Jessica Negron, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said she remembers male coworkers using the word “dick” more than 500 times in the workplace and her supervisor telling her that diversity shouldn’t be a main point of design of Riot Games’ products because “gaming culture is the last remaining safe haven for white teen boys.”
The lawsuit says that other female employees were shown unsolicited photos of male genitalia and one woman found an email chain in which male coworkers talked about what it would be like to “penetrate her.”
Riot Games released the following statement regarding the lawsuit:
“While we do not discuss the details of ongoing litigation, we can say that we take every allegation of this nature seriously and investigate them thoroughly. We remain committed to a deep and comprehensive evolution of our culture to ensure Riot is a place where all Rioters thrive.”
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit ask for compensation for unpaid wages, damages and other penalties.
This unfortunately isn’t the first time a company has been accused of gender discrimination. In 2015, several woman filed a lawsuit against Microsoft, accusing the company of systematically denying pay raises and promotions for women. The lawsuit has received new attention since the #MeToo era’s evaluation of how corporate America treats female employees. The judge hasn’t yet decided on whether or not the lawsuit will go forward as a class action.
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