The Sawtelle-based game development and publishing company announced Dec. 27 that it would pay $100 million in restitution to more than 2,300 current and former women employees who filed suit in 2018. Under the agreement, $80 million of the settlement will go to more than 1,000 full-time employees and 1,300 contractors dating back to November 2014 with the remaining $20 million going to lawyers’ fees and other costs.
Initial litigation put the payout for the class-action suit at $10 million, but in January 2020 California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a complaint alongside another from the state’s Division of Labor Standards Enforcement that argued the number could be worth as much as $400 million. Prompted by the state’s findings, the class withdrew its initial amount and sought new representation to pursue a higher settlement.
In addition to bankrolling a diversity and inclusion program as another condition of the agreement, Riot also agreed to an audit of workplace investigations and a three-year, third-party analysis of gender equity in employee pay.
