Riot Games will not allow employees to withdraw from arbitration

Riot Games employees took part in a major outing on May 6 to protest many of the company's employment policies, including the use of forced arbitration in response to employee lawsuits. Riot has since issued a statement announcing that he would not change his arbitration policy during a litigation.

"In the end, given the complexity of ongoing litigation, we will not be able to change the agreements of our employees during an active litigation, "the statement said. "We know that everyone does not agree with this decision, but we also know that everyone Is I want Riot to continue to improve. We remain determined to have a firm response regarding the extension of a withdrawal option to all rioters following active litigation. "

Arbitration is a system by which disputes are settled by a private process instead of the legal system. "Employees subject to mandatory arbitration can no longer sue for violations of many important employment laws, including minimum wage and overtime pay, breaks, protections against discrimination and unjustified dismissal, protection of privacy, family leave, etc. federal labor law, "said the Economic Policy Institute in a 2015 report.

The walkout itself comes just days after Riot issued an initial statement saying it would not allow employees to withdraw from the company's mandatory arbitration policy on sexual harassment and assault issues. sexual.

The company's statement also addresses some of the issues raised by employees during the walkout, including D & I (diversity and inclusion) within the company. On this subject, the declaration promises a change or "at least a mutual understanding".

In order to achieve this mutual understanding, Riot announced by the declaration the creation of a new program called D & I Rioters Council. Angela Roseboro, Head of Diversity at Riot, will lead this group and will incorporate members of the Riot team from across the company to take a "proactive approach to sharing points of view, creating changes and identify barriers and opportunities that will allow us to advance D & I. and culture. "

According to the company's statement, the company has also invited a "diverse" group of employees to review its code of conduct to review and address its concerns.

Much of the current concerns about working conditions, diversity and arbitration issues have come to the attention of the public after a Kotaku report in August 2018 alleged a culture of sexism.