Riot Games co-founders, Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill. Photo: Vivien Killelea/Getty Images
Often, settlements between the wealthy and their victims are inadequate. In the case of the $10 million settlement between Riot Games and all female employees, current and former, it’s about 40 times inadequate. The settlement required Riot to dole out $10 million to their victims, the female employees of Riot Games. They’d split the value among their group. Depending on the number of female employees in the lawsuit, that could come out to far less than a year’s salary for these women. There are over 2,500 employees of Riot, and the company made over $1.4 billion in revenue last year.
The settlement also didn’t place strict requirements on Riot, forcing them to improve. However, it may have been all the women thought they could get. They were, after all, going up against a large and wealthy company, and sexual discrimination suits are famously unfruitful affairs.
However, the state of California, through the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, stepped in. They’ve delayed the settlement, claiming that it’s too unfair to the offended parties. Instead of $10 million, they claim Riot owes these women $400 million and make changes to make Riot a better place for women, something it hasn’t adequately done.
Now that’s more like it.
Quick Refresher
In case you’ve forgotten the crimes of Riot, they’re bad enough to make a creepy Uber manager blush. There were rape jokes made in all-hands meetings, women passed over for promotions, and their ideas intentionally stuck down just because a woman suggested them (and then accepted when a male employee brought up the same plan). The company brought in sexy cosplayers to “cheer up” employees, allowed a woman to be passed over for a promised promotion for denying a sexual advance, and made frequent use of racist and homophobic slurs. That’s not to mention the farting and genital grabs. It’s not mentioning a lot.
It was a toxic place to work if you were anything but a straight white man, but even they couldn’t ignore the suffering of their coworkers. Riot had walkouts and protests since these women came forward, though the company hasn’t made a large effort to improve.
A Settlement Halted
The upset Riot Games employees named their group “Rioters Unplugged.” Photo: Nathan Grayson/Kotaku
The Department of Fair Employment and Housing of California objected to the proposed settlement from Riot Games. The department settled on their $400 million estimate using the methodology Riot laid out in the settlement themselves. However, they included stock and equity compensations in the estimation, which Riot left out. Riot has argued that equity, often a part of an employee’s employment contract, does not fall under wage discrimination. They’re splitting hairs, to be sure, and, due to the nuances of employee compensation, they’re likely wrong.
Tomorrow, a court will meet to decide to either approve Riot’s proposed settlement or follow the guidance of the Department of Fair Employment and Housing. If they do the latter, jilted employees and Riot will have to go back to negotiations, and the end result will likely be more in the women’s favor. Riot has tried to force women into individual arbitration, specifically to stop them from having the power to bring about a fair settlement like this. This is Riot’s worst nightmare.
Hopefully the outcome sends a message to sexist companies everywhere: you can’t afford sexism.