Lawsuit filed against Pokemon GO dev Niantic for “systemic sexual bias”

2023 has been a really unhealthy 12 months for Niantic. The firm has been underneath fireplace for their adjustments to distant raids in Pokemon GO, they just lately laid off 230 staff, and the cell sport has been coping with all kinds of bugs and points. That stated, their woes are removed from over, as a result of there’s now a lawsuit filed against them.

The lawsuit, which is searching for a class-action standing, was filed by an nameless Asian feminine that used to work for Niantic for a couple of years earlier than they grew to become one of many staff that had been just lately laid off. The worker is accusing the corporate of devaluing the work of its feminine staff and ladies of colour. Not solely that, however they accuse Niantic of denying their feminine staff and ladies of colour equal pay.

The worker says that, regardless of having a $84,000 wage by the top of the 12 months, she discovered in “approximately” 2021 {that a} male colleague of hers was being paid more cash, although she had extra obligations and a better job title than him. By the time she had been laid off, this was nonetheless an issue. Her male colleague was being paid $127,000 per 12 months as early as 2022, and he or she obtained a increase in spring 2023 which resulted in her making $115,000 per 12 months. To make issues worse, the feminine worker found that Niantic had posted a mean pay vary for her job title and stage, and he or she noticed that she was being paid greater than $10,000 lower than the underside finish of that vary.

The worker claims that she mentioned her considerations with different feminine staff, and sexism and equal pay had been introduced up in Wolfpack, Niantic’s worker sources group for ladies. The feminine worker additionally went to Niantic’s Diversity Equity and Inclusion Director and Principal People Partner to voice her considerations, solely for each to “make clear” that “they and male upper management at Niantic were hostile to her complaints or voiced concerns about sexism or sexual bias in the workplace”. In this similar assembly, there have been additionally executives there, and the feminine worker says that they informed her that it was due to her talking up in regards to the matter to her colleagues that her job evaluations had been being affected and he or she was being paid beneath the rang. The feminine worker says that they then “immediately unsubscribed” from the Wolfpack group becuase she feared that “her association with Wolfpack would disadvantage Wolfpack employees or her”.

Lastly, the feminine worker mentions within the lawsuit that higher administration was knowledgeable of a Wolfpack survey. In the survey, Wolfpack discovered that “many female employees viewed Niantic as a sexist work culture that disadvantages female employees”. Not solely that, however a majority of respondents “expressed concerns about equal pay at Niantic”. After they had been knowledgeable of the survey’s findings, the worker says within the lawsuit that “Niantic’s Chief Marketing Officer, Mike Quigley, required Wolfpack to remove references to Boys Club and similar comments about sexism in the workplace from their presentation to Wolfpack members about the results of the survey”. Wolfpack was them informed that they couldn’t survey staffers with out approval from higher administration. Overall, the grievance accuses Niantic of making a “boys club”. The Verge reached out to Niantic for a remark, however they obtained no quick response.

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