Riot Games under investigation following discrimination allegations

In the last nine months, there has been plenty of discussion surrounding Riot Games and its internal practices. Recently, there have been lawsuits alleging discrimination and sexism, which Riot has moved to block due to a waiver found in most employee contracts. This led to a walkout protest, which didn’t do much at the time, but the situation has now caught the attention of California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing, leading to an investigation.

The department is seeking to get a judge to order Riot to hand over employee pay information and other details as part of an “ongoing investigation into alleged gender discrimination”. The investigation will focus on unequal pay, harassment and discrimination when it comes to promotions. The investigation apparently began back in October 2018, shortly after complaints first began popping up. The DFEH has also been in contact with Riot as part of the process but is now getting courts involved.

In a statement sent to Kotaku, Riot Games confirmed that it has been “in active conversations with DFEH since its inquiry began”. The statement also expresses disappointment in the public announcement of this investigation, as Riot claims to have been “cooperating in good with the DFEH to address its concerns”.

Riot says it has responded to the department’s requests and produced thousands of documents and payment information so far. Riot also says that it is confident that it has made “substantial progress” in improving its internal culture and diversifying its workforce since these allegations came to light last year.

KitGuru Says: It looks like the situation with Riot is continuing to escalate. The company has taken steps to address concerns but only those still working there can really judge if management has done enough. From the sounds of it, the state of California isn’t satisfied either, so we can expect to hear more from this investigation in the coming months.

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