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 staff. She accuses Niantic of fostering a “boys membership” the place feminine staff are paid much less and given much less steerage than male staff of the identical or decrease rank. In keeping with a report from The Verge, she’s in search of class-action standing to incorporate different staff who might have been affected.

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

The criticism says it’s about “systemic sexual bias at Niantic.” Niantic just isn’t the one firm about which such allegations have been made. In 2021, Activision Blizzard confronted a lawsuit from a California regulatory physique for having a tradition of sexual harassment and discrimination (additionally referred to a number of occasions as a “boy’s membership” or a fraternity-like atmosphere). Riot Video games additionally this yr obtained last approval on a settlement for the same gender discrimination lawsuit.

Niantic’s latest layoffs reportedly mirror 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 staff throughout this restructure.