Riot Games will pay $10 million to settle gender discrimination suit

Riot Games agreed to pay out at least $10 million to women who worked at the company in the last five years as part of a settlement in a class action lawsuit over alleged gender discrimination, according to court documents filed Monday. The suit began in November 2018 when two women who had worked at the Los Angeles game studio, which makes the popular “League of Legends” game and is owned by the Chinese technology giant Tencent, sued over violations of the California Equal Pay act, alleging that they were routinely subjected to sexual harassment and gender discrimination. The suit also alleged that outspoken female employees faced retaliation from Riot, including “denied promotions, refusals to provide increased compensation or equal pay, demotions, reassignment with significantly different responsibilities, losses of benefits, suspensions, terminations, and other adverse employment actions.” Two employees also filed individual wrongful termination and sexual harassment suits against the company. Riot Games, for its part, refused to give in to the demands of its employees after the walkout in May, though it did pledge to allow new hires the option to waive the forced arbitration clause for sexual harassment and assault “once current litigation was resolved.”