
Riot Games hiding information from governmental investigation
Riot has allegedly withheld “critical information” from California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH). This news follows previous employees complaints of poor diversification and pay discrimination within Riot Games. The DFEH had earlier launched an investigation into Riot Game’s employment practises due to employee complaints and threats of action.
When the DFEH was asked if Riot had been complying with the investigation to an acceptable standard, it responded that “Riot Games has withheld critical information from the DFEH that is necessary to determine whether pay discrimination exists at the company”. While this by no means represents Riot’s guilt, it does pose a serious question, why has Riot failed to fully disclosed all relevant information to the governmental body.
Note, the DFEH possesses the authority to investigate “potential violations of California’s civil rights law” as stated by Kevin Kish, the DFEH director. In instances business / companies such as Riot games fails to corporate with the investigation, in this case to determine if Riot games engaged in pay discrimination, the DFEH has the option to seek court orders. As a result, due to Riot’s poor corporation with its investigation, they have filled for an investigation enforcement order against Riot Games.
In opposition, Riot stated they have been fully corporative with the DFEH, even taking the initiative to set up meetings to further discuss the investigation. However, Riot alleges these call / requests were left unanswered, only to be later surprised by the DFEH’s shock public statement regarding Riot’s uncooperative actions. To date, Riot mentioned they have supplied “over 2,500 pages of documents and several thousand lines of pay data so far”. In addition, Riot included that since the initial employee allegations, various steps have been taken to improve “diversity, inclusion, and company culture”.