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Riot Games agrees to pay $100 million in settlement of class-action gender discrimination suit [washingtonpost.com]:

“League of Legends” publisher Riot Games announced Monday that it is settling a 2018 gender-based discrimination class-action suit with California state agencies and current and former women employees for $100 million. The company will pay $80 million to members of the class-action suit and approximately $20 million toward plaintiffs’ legal fees.

The Los Angeles lawsuit was filed in November 2018 by now-former employees Melanie McCracken and Jess Negrón, alleging gender discrimination as well as sexual harassment and misconduct at Riot Games. The suit was followed by two inquiries led by California state agencies. The suit came after gaming news site Kotaku published an exposé [kotaku.com] about a culture of sexism at Riot Games, where female employees were asked in job interviews to be “core gamers” and “League of Legends” players. In the article, women said they were turned away for insufficiently satisfying those criteria during the hiring process.

“This is a great day for the women of Riot Games — and for women at all video game and tech companies — who deserve a workplace that is free of harassment and discrimination,” said the plaintiffs’ counsel, the employment and sexual harassment lawyer Genie Harrison. “We appreciate Riot’s introspection and work since 2018 toward becoming a more diverse and inclusive company.”

Riot agreed to settle the suit in 2019 for $10 million, but California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) intervened, blocking the agreement [latimes.com] with a court filing in which the agency argued that victims should be entitled to as much as $400 million. The DFEH posted a news release acknowledging the settlement [ca.gov] Monday night.

The new settlement is with the DFEH, the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) and certain individual claimants. All current and former California employees and contractors who identify as women and worked at Riot between November 2014 and present day qualify for a payout. At least 2,300 workers are eligible for part of the $80 million settlement, with those who started earlier or worked at the company longer receiving a larger allocation of the funds. Riot will pay into a settlement fund that will then be distributed to claimants following a court’s approval. McCracken settled out of the suit for an undisclosed figure. Riot declined to comment on whether certain individual plaintiffs who had entered arbitration agreements with Riot would receive part of the $80 million.

In an email to Riot Games employees Monday night, five of the company’s executives addressed the settlement.

“We want to acknowledge that the timing of this announcement isn’t ideal. The final details of the agreement came together quickly, and we wanted you to hear about it from us directly rather than read about it in the news while on break,” the email, which was obtained by The Washington Post, read.

Company leadership wrote in the email that the number of eligible claimants has more than doubled since they hired more women at Riot in recent years.

The DFEH, DLSE and Joseph M. Lovretovich law firm, which also represents plaintiffs in the case, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

As part of the settlement, Riot must be monitored by a third party for three years. That party will oversee human resource complaints, how they are handled and whether employees of all genders are being paid fairly. The third party, which could be an individual, must be approved by both Riot and the DFEH. If the monitor discovers Riot needs to improve its practices, they can recommend changes that Riot can implement, which the judge presiding over the suit, Elihu M. Berle, may enforce.

While both sides have signed the agreement and filed with the court, they’re still awaiting final approval at an upcoming hearing set by the judge. No hearing date has been set yet.

The settlement covers the 2018 lawsuit but not a harassment and discrimination suit filed against Riot in 2021. On Jan. 7, Riot Games CEO Nicolas Laurent, popularly known as Nicolo, was sued by a former executive assistant, Sharon O’Donnell, who alleged misconduct and unwanted sexual advances. Riot has vigorously denied these allegations. In March, Riot announced that Laurent, who is popularly known as Nicolo, would remain at the company after a third-party investigation commissioned by the studio found no evidence of wrongdoing. The case has gone into arbitration, according to Riot.

“Three years ago, Riot was at the heart of what became a reckoning in our industry,” Riot Games wrote in a statement shared with The Washington Post. “We had to face the fact that despite our best intentions, we hadn’t always lived up to our values. As a company we stood at a crossroads; we could deny the shortcomings of our culture, or we could apologize, correct course, and build a better Riot. We chose the latter. … While we’re proud of how far we’ve come since 2018, we must also take responsibility for the past. We hope that this settlement properly acknowledges those who had negative experiences at Riot.”

Riot’s $100 million settlement comes just as the video games industry faces broad scrutiny of its workplace culture. Multiple government agencies, including the DFEH, are investigating “Call of Duty” and “World of Warcraft” developer Activision Blizzard over allegations [washingtonpost.com] of employee sexual misconduct and gender-based discrimination. The DFEH has similarly challenged [washingtonpost.com] an agreement that Activision Blizzard sought to finalize: an $18 million settlement with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. A federal judge recently blocked the DFEH’s challenge.

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