League of Legends developer Riot Games has announced it will paying out $100 million to settle a gender discrimination lawsuit. The original settlement was supposed to be $10 million, but new lawyers were hired–who pushed for a larger payout–bringing it up $90 million.
The new team of lawyers hired by the former employees of Riot Games withdrew the proposed settlement of $10 million, stating it was the result of “alleged mistakes and improprieties by prior class counsel (according to The Hollywood Reporter).”
The members of the class action group hired women’s right attorney Genie Harrison and employment lawyer Joseph Lovretovich took over for the previous counsel. The new settlement funds they obtained will be provided to more than 2,000 former and current female employees at Riot Games.
Genie Harrison told The New York Times that the settlement terms are fair and that she feels proud to have worked on this case. “I’m very pleased that we were able to provide what I think is a fair settlement,” she said.
The Los Angeles Superior Court still needs to approve the settlement. If it does go through, this could be a big message to companies in California that all industries in the state need to provide “equal pay and workplaces free from discrimination and harassment,” Kevin Kish of the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing told NYT.
According to the report, more than 1,000 full-time employees and 1,300 contractors who worked at Riot from as early as November 2014 will share $80 million. The rest will be set aside to cover legal fees and any other accruing costs. Riot Games will also put money into a diversity and inclusion program, along with conducting a third-party audit to provide an “analysis of gender equity in employee pay and job assignments.”
Riot did give a statement regarding the new settlement, saying, “We believe this is the right thing to do, for both the company and those whose experiences at Riot fell short of our standards and values.”
