The $10 million gender discrimination settlement put forth by League of Legends developer Riot Games has been rejected by new legal counsel for the victims in the case. The spiraling lawsuit against the studio has been going on for the better part of a year and a half.
After Riot employees began reporting a sexist work culture in August 2018, the company’s controversial arbitration policy for legal disputes quickly became public knowledge. Although Riot announced it would end the arbitration policy, the change would only apply to newly-hired employees. Many Riot workers staged a walkout in response and the state of California began an investigation into Riot Games. The studio eventually tried to settle the collective victims’ lawsuit against it with a $10 million payout, which was initially accepted. However, multiple state agencies protested Riot’s settlement, saying the amount was about $390 million lower than it should be.
Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the acceptance of the settlement has been withdrawn. The former Riot employees have taken on new legal counsel in the case, consisting of women’s rights attorney Genie Harrison and employment lawyer Joseph Lovretovich. Harrison and Lovretovich have withdrawn the motion to approve the settlement and are currently obtaining an “expert analysis of the alleged pay disparities for the women of Riot Games.” The new legal team intends to “recover the compensation due to the women of Riot Games and achieve institutional reform, in order to level the playing field for women.”
Riot Games has responded with a new statement in the case, saying it supports the plaintiffs’ right to seek different legal counsel. “We are aware that Plaintiffs’ new counsel withdrew the pending Motion for Preliminary Approval, which will give them adequate time to review the proposed settlement agreement,” a company spokesperson said. “We also filed a joint statement with their new counsel noting that we remain committed to working towards a fair resolution for everyone involved.” Approximately 1,000 female employees who worked at Riot in the past five years are set to receive a share of the payout once the settlement is complete.
If the assessments from California’s labor rights departments are any indication, these former female employees of Riot deserve far more compensation in this class action case. While more money won’t undo what’s been done, it certainly helps to emphasize that gender discrimination in the workplace is not acceptable. Riot does seem intent on improving its image as a result of this whole debacle, but one can only hope that the “institutional reforms” described by the new legal team will actually happen.
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Source: The Hollywood Reporter
