Riot promises to let new employees sue the company over sexual harassment
Last week, Riot Games faced renewed criticism – and reported threats of employee walkouts – as it filed a motion to take two plaintiffs in gender discrimination lawsuits against the company to private arbitration. Now, Riot has detailed plans to change its approach to mandatory arbitration – but in the immediate future, those changes will only go into effect for new employees.
“As soon as current litigation is resolved,” Riot says, “we will give all new Rioters the choice to opt-out of mandatory arbitration for individual sexual harassment and sexual assault claims. At that time, we will also commit to have a firm answer around expanding the scope and extending this opt-out to all Rioters. “
It’s a positive move, but it’s only a half step – the burden is still on employees to opt out, there’s not yet a guarantee of existing employees receiving this option, and outside sexual harassment and assault claims, arbitration is still in place...