Riot Games says to hand over its payroll data

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Riot Games

California regulators sue in an investigation into allegations of gender discrimination at Riot Games.

The studio is behind the very popular online game League of Legends.

The California Department of Employment and Housing (DFEH) seeks to prove that Riot pays women less than men.

The DFEH said it was also investigating charges of sexual harassment and sexual assault within the company, as well as discrimination in remuneration and promotion.

Right to sue

The "enforcement action" brought by the DFEH against Riot is aimed at forcing the video game maker to transmit information on the compensation of employees.

Until now, according to a statement from the DFEH, Riot had "refused" to give the regulator enough information to determine whether men were better paid while they were working at the studio.

In a statement made to the Verge news site, Riot said he responded "promptly" to requests from the DFEH and provided more than 2,500 pages of documents and "several thousand lines of pay data".

"We have had active conversations with the DFEH since the beginning of its investigation and such investigations can occur when there are allegations of disparities in the workplace and we cooperate in good faith with the DFEH. DFEH to address its concerns. " . "

He said that he was "disappointed" to see the DFEH's complaint not cooperating with the investigation.

The news comes after a mass strike in May to protest against Riot's handling of sex discrimination charges.

About 150 employees left the company after Riot filed a lawsuit to prevent two women from suing the company for discrimination. The lawsuit was trying to prevent both men from filing lawsuits and forced them to participate in arbitration talks.

Riot claimed that the work contract signed by the women meant that they had waived their right to sue.

At the time of the walkout, Riot announced its intention to change its internal policies so that employees do not lose the right to sue and are not forced to arbitrate.