After violating California’s Equal Pay Act, the Department of Fair Employment and Housing has asked to increase the initial figure to $400 million.
The new plaintiff’s’ representative, Genie Harrison, known for representing women’s’ rights in the cases of Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey deems the initial settlement unjust.
Both the state of California and Harrison said that only the wage difference would already exceed $400 million.
Harrison said: “These brave women spoke out against gender inequality and sexism, and I want to make sure they are fairly compensated.” The plaintiffs’ attorney defended that the company should also compensate the workers for the back pay in their wages and the court’s costs, such as lawyers.
The fine intends to pay every woman involved in the developing of the League of Legends game between November 2014 and the final date of the settlement. The number of female developers involved in the project is approximately 1000.
Back in 2018, two workers for Riot Games filed a lawsuit against the company’s malpractice which include unequal pay and promotion opportunities, retaliation against those who spoke out, verbal and physical harassment, amongst others.
At first, the company tried to push the case into arbitration, which led to mass protests from workers in May of last year.
However, in a more recent statement, Riot Games said that it “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.”
For now, Riot Games has opposed the increase of the settlement, calling it ‘clickbait’. A spokesperson for the company said: “the DFEH’s claim [...] is outrageous, reckless, and without any basis in fact or law.”