Details surrounding the settlements for Activision and Riot Games employees have revealed that more than 1500 current or former workers at Riot Games workers have received payments as part of previously announced settlements following a discrimination lawsuit.
According to Axios and a recent court filing, 1548 women have received a payment of between $2500 and $5000 (£1977 – £3950) at Riot, whilst hundreds of Activision employees are also receiving payouts for a separate, but similar, settlement.
It’s thought that in some instances, the terms of Riot’s agreement also sees “additional payments of up to $40,000 depending on employment status and tenure”.
In the Activision case, the developer/publisher is said to be “making payments ranging from five to six figures” to “hundreds” of people who opted into the class-action legal dispute, including anyone “who worked for Activision Blizzard since September 2016” and “based on the EEOC’s assessment could assert a claim for sexual harassment, pregnancy discrimination, retaliation and/or constructive discharge by Defendants”.
According to Activision, “nearly all” of the $18m fund has now been distributed to claimants, whilst any left over funds will be donated to non-profit organisation,Reboot Representation.
Riot Games previously agreed to a $100m (£74m) settlement to end its long-running gender discrimination lawsuit back in January 2022. The settlement, announced at the end of December 2021, brings to a close the class action suit filed by employees back in 2018.
Numerous staff members, past and present, said Riot Games had been a toxic place to work where sexism was commonplace. More than 2000 women joined the suit.