A Riot Games walkout that recently took placed has proven to be ineffective in getting the company to address the demands of its employees. The League of Legends developer had previously blocked employees from filing lawsuits against them due to an arbitration clause built into their contract. That policy will continue as the current arbitration cases being brought against the company are working their way through the system.
“Ultimately, given the complexities of ongoing litigation, we will not change our employee agreements while in active litigation,” the company said as reported by GamesIndustry.biz. “We know not everyone agrees with this decision, but we also know everyone does want Riot to continue to improve.”
Talk of the Riot Games walkout began at the end of April before it finally kicked off on May 6, 2019. The walkout was primarily motivated by a forced arbitration clause in employee contracts. Private arbitration is often used by businesses as a less-severe way of settling disputes as compared to court, but some feel that this is slanted in favor of the party who is paying the fees for arbitration. Riot Games has promised to remove their forced arbitration clause, but only after the current batch of cases is settled.
Allegations from employees currently engaged in arbitration proceedings include sexual harassment and disparity in pay. One such case has been converted into a class-action motion comprised of several current and former employees.
While the Riot Games walkout may have been initially unsuccessful at getting the company to remove their forced arbitration clause, it’s clearly done a lot to bring attention to a problem that is widespread not only in the gaming industry but in the business world overall. While largely ineffective this time around, it’s possible that continued pressure from employees, the press, and the public will be able to cause some positive changes to a company that has been beleaguered by legal issues for some time.
