Niantic sued by former employee for gender discrimination

A former Niantic worker has filed go well with towards the California-based sport studio for allegedly discriminating towards its feminine workers. She accuses Niantic of fostering a “boys membership” the place feminine workers are paid much less and given much less steering than male workers of the identical or decrease rank. In response to a report from The Verge, she’s looking for class-action standing to incorporate different workers who might have been affected.

The previous worker stays nameless, however started work for Niantic in 2020. She discovered inside a 12 months of being employed that she was paid lower than a male worker regardless of having extra duties and the next place inside the firm. She allegedly later spoke with different feminine workers and found she was not alone on this regard, however the studio’s management reacted poorly to the problem being introduced up. “Jane Doe” was one of many workers let go in Niantic’s current layoffs.

The criticism says it’s about “systemic sexual bias at Niantic.” Niantic will not be the one firm about which such allegations have been made. In 2021, Activision Blizzard faced a lawsuit from a California regulatory physique for having a tradition of sexual harassment and discrimination (additionally referred to a number of instances as a “boy’s membership” or a fraternity-like atmosphere). Riot Video games additionally this 12 months received final approval on a settlement for the same gender discrimination lawsuit.

Niantic’s current layoffs reportedly replicate the corporate’s intention to focus extra of its efforts on Pokémon GO and the video games such because the not too long ago launched Peridot. It introduced it’s sunsetting NBA All World and cancelling improvement on Marvel: World of Heroes. The corporate laid off 230 workers throughout this restructure.