In November 2018, two women who worked at League of Legends developer Riot Games sued the company for violating the California Equal Pay act. That suit was settled in August of this year, and now we know that as part of the settlement, Riot will pay out a from a fund of $10 million to the roughly 1,000 women the company has employed since November 2014.
The amount of the payments will be determined by each employee’s status and tenure at the company, according to court documents obtained by the LA Times. The plaintiffs and Riot itself have both agreed to the proposed terms of the settlement, but it will need to be approved by the court before being finalised.
“We’re pleased to have a proposed settlement to fully resolve the class action lawsuit,” Riot says. “The settlement is another important step forward, and demonstrates our commitment to living up to our values and to making Riot an inclusive environment for the industry’s best talent.”
The original lawsuit came in the wake of a massive report from Kotaku which alleged systemic gender discrimination and sexual harassment at Riot. Today, one current employee tells the outlet that “It’s great that Riot has decided to compensate women for the abuse they suffered here, but their rhetoric about ‘healing and moving on’ leaves something to be desired. It’s difficult to heal and move on when we are faced with the reality that at the end of the day, Riot prefers to pay the women still here for the trouble of continuing to work with alleged abusers.”
A separate report in August of this year suggests that many employees feel optimistic about the progress Riot has made since the allegations of harassment and discrimination went public. As one employee said, “Has Riot done everything I would like them to do? No. Has Riot put in significant investment and shown commitment to want to be better? Yes, I do believe that.”