Hey Compliance Warriors!
Riot Games, a prominent video game developer headquartered in Los Angeles, has consented to a whopping $100 million payout to settle a sexual harassment and gender discrimination lawsuit. This resolution represents the highest settlement of this nature in the annals of the California Department of Civil Rights.
The women who initiated this lawsuit against the company alleged that Riot Games engaged in practices of pay inequity, unfairly compensating women less than their male counterparts in similar roles. They also accused the company of assigning women to roles with lower remuneration, promoting men more often than women with comparable qualifications, and allowing gender-focused discrimination, harassment, and retaliation to persist in the workplace.
Specific instances of alleged harassment and discrimination, left unaddressed by the company, included:
* Assigning women to temporarily cover roles that were above their designated position and pay scale, only to eventually replace them with male hires.
* Terminating the contracts of two male employees who actively supported gender diversity within the workplace.
* Objectifying female staff members, including the maintaining of a list titled “Riot Games Hottest Women Employees.”
* Tolerating sexual humor centered on topics such as rape, masturbation, and anatomy.
* Forcing female employees to partake in online gaming where they consistently encountered harassment.
* Exposing female employees to pictures of male private parts.
* Overriding and disregarding female coworkers in discussions.
* Devaluing female staff for having family commitments or being vocal.
The employees at Riot Games are referred to as “Rioters”. Gaude Paez, who holds the position of Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs at the company, made a statement on the issue, saying, “The journey has been long for all parties involved, and we appreciate the patience and backing from Rioters during this time. Over the past few years, we’ve invested tremendous effort in establishing a culture at Riot that sees diversity as a source of creativity and inclusivity as the standard, and we pledge to uphold these principles moving forward.”
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