A lawsuit has been filed against Ron Johnson being placed on leave in June 2020 following abhorrent comments made about George Floyd after his public death in police custody.
Riot Games is also facing a wide-ranging gender discrimination lawsuit that was originally filed in 2018. The lawsuit came after allegations surfaced about the toxic behavior at the developer that created a damaging and discriminatory work environment for female employees. A settlement for $10 million was eventually reached, although this was objected to by California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing, which argued that compensation should be closer to $400 million.
League of Legends developer Riot Games is being sued along with its CEO Nicolo Laurent in a sexual harassment lawsuit that has been filed by Sharon O'Donnell. The complainant previously worked at Riot Games as Laurent's assistant and has filed the lawsuit in the LA County Superior Court. According to Vice, the legal paperwork was submitted to the court on January 7 and includes nine issues that O'Donnell is seeking compensation for. This includes sexual discrimination, creating a hostile work environment, and failure to pay wages properly. O'Donnell claims she was subjected to a "pattern of harassment" that took form between 2017 to her alleged wrongful termination in July 2020.
Documents from the lawsuit allege that Laurent sent explicit messages to O'Donnell throughout her time at Riot Games. In some examples, the CEO allegedly told his assistant to act and appear more feminine and made remarks asking her to come to his house to work while his wife was away. After refusing such requests, O'Donnell was ultimately fired. According to Riot Games, Laurent will continue in his role while an investigation, carried out by a special committee of its Board of Directors and an independent law firm, takes place.
Riot Games also found itself in hot water in early 2020 when it emerged that the studio was attempting to strike a sponsorship deal with NEOM. This was a city project in Saudi Arabia, a country that is infamous for its anti-LGBT stances and generally anti-humanitarian laws. Fans of the studio were understandably mortified by this development, leading to Riot Games pulling out of the deal and establishing an ethics committee to better weight future business decisions.
The new lawsuit spells more bad news for Riot Games, which has embroiled itself in multiple controversies over the last few years, and it seems unlikely that its current string of legal problems will end any time soon. It also marks yet another negative story to surface from within the gaming industry, which has seen several lawsuits and allegations against high-profile executives and designers in recent months. Companies like Ubisoft have faced a barrage of criticism for alleged sexual discrimination and abuse of employees, which is not company Riot should be keen to remain counted among.
Source: Vice
