The illustrations are by Alex Castro.
Riot Games has agreed to pay $100 million to settle a discrimination and harassment lawsuit. The publisher of the League of Legends and Valorant will pay at least $80 million to members of the settlement class and around $20 million in legal fees, and it will agree to workplace changes that include greater pay transparency and three years of third-party monitoring.
The lawsuit was filed by current and former Riot employees in the wake of a Kotaku report detailing sexism and unfair treatment. A company-wide policy of preferring men to women in the hiring, promotion, and compensation of its employees was described in a suit.
The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing and Division of Labor Standards Enforcement blocked a $10 million settlement for Riot because they said women at the company could be entitled to up to $400 million. The latest settlement was endorsed by the DFEH.
$10 million was provided by an earlier settlement.
The suit covers over one thousand female employees and over one thousand female contractors at Riot. If a court approves the settlement, women who worked for Riot in either capacity since November of 2014 may be eligible for damages. Riot leadership told employees in a letter that the final details of the agreement came together quickly and that an announcement would be made at the end of the year.
The women of Riot Games and all video game and tech companies deserve a workplace that is free of harassment and discrimination, according to the attorney who is representing them. Riot has taken responsibility for its past and is committed to fairness and equality in the future.
The new Riot settlement came after a court stopped the DFEH from intervening in a settlement over similar gender discrimination claims. Riot denied a harassment claim against its CEO in March, but the complaint that doesn't cover a separate 2021 one doesn't cover that.
Riot Games said it hoped the settlement would properly acknowledge those who had negative experiences at Riot and that it would lead by example in bringing more accountability and equality to the games industry.
