The sexism scandal surrounding Riot Games continues to come to a head. The League of Legends developer is accused of misleading its own employees about the right they are entitled to.
The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) has accused Riot Games of misleading its own employees about their right to speak to the government or other entities. This Californian agency, which advocates for fair employment and housing, has also filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, among others.
Against Riot Games, a statement was released on Monday saying Riot Games must inform its employees of their right to speak out to the DFEH or other government agencies about sexual harassment or other acts of violence. This Riot Games is said to have failed to do in the past two months.
California's Department of Fair Employment & Housing (the department suing Activision) is putting pressure on Riot Games to inform its employees that they can speak to the DFEH about misconduct. Says Riot's been stalling pic.twitter.com/OAvvGlVtnE
— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) August 16, 2021
Basically, Riot Games was told that it should have sent a notice to employees on 4 June – advising them to release all required information and give permission to speak freely without fear of retaliation.
The California agency also wrote that it was alarmed by the language used in contracts by Riot Games. However, it said the wording written by Riot Games made it appear that employees were precisely unable to speak freely.
In a statement to Polygon, Riot Games said that the company has whistleblower protections in place and that “Riot has never and will never retaliate against anyone who has spoken to a government agency.” The developer also refuted the DFEH’s claims regarding language used in contracts that could prevent employees from speaking to the DFEH or other government entities.
