Published , by Asif Khan
Published , by Asif Khan
Riot Games employees are preparing for a walkout today in protest of the company's stance on forced arbitration. The developer of League of Legends has been been hit by multiple lawsuits over the past year alleging that the company violated the California Equal Pay Act, among other allegations of very troubling behavior. The internal disputes between the company and its employees appear to be boiling over today as many employees will walk out of their place of work in protest of management.
Five former and current Riot Games employees have filed lawsuits against Riot Games in the last year, and the company filed a motion in April to block two of those lawsuits. Riot's lawyers claim that the employees signed arbitration agreements which waived their rights to a trial by jury against the company. It appears that this was the final straw for a number of employees who had hoped their coworkers would have their days in court.
The original lawsuits against Riot Games highlighted a toxic bro culture that allegedly goes all the way to the top of management. Kotaku filed a very in-depth report last year that unearthed many stories of disgusting behavior at the company. “The ‘bro culture’ there is so real,” said a former female employee. “It’s agonizingly real. It’s like working at a giant fraternity.” There are reports of internal email lists in which management ranked female employees by attractiveness and there appears to be a history of women being looked over for promotions.
There are a lot of ways to look at this from the outside, but we have put together some tweets from Riot Games employees explaining why they are walking out today:
We will be watching for more news around the Riot Games walkout today, as it is reportedly going to be the largest walkout in game studio history. We applaud the employees for standing up for their rights, and will be sure to update our readers as news continues to break from this developing story.