Tencent Holding Loses In Class Action Lawsuit, Forced To Pay Rp1.4 Trillion To Its Employees

Tencent Holding lost the class action lawsuit. (photo: unsplash)

JAKARTA - Tencent Holdings' as owner of Riot Games on Monday, December 27 said it had agreed to pay 100 million US dollars (Rp 1.4 trillion) to settle a 2018 gender-based discrimination class action lawsuit with California state agencies and current employees and former female employee.

The company said it would pay $80 million to members of the class-action lawsuit, consisting of all full-time female employees and former employees and temporary agency contractors in California who worked from November 2014 to the present.

An additional US$20 million (Rp 284 billion) will be paid for attorney's fees and other costs, Riot Games said in a statement quoted by Reuters.

"In an effort to promote continued transparency and accountability, Riot is also committed to establishing internal reporting and a third-party monitored equity payment process that is jointly approved by Riot and the California Department of Employment and Fair Housing over three years," the company said. .

Final approval of the settlement by the court is pending, with a hearing expected in the coming months, the statement said.

As the Washington Post reported and quoted by Reuters on Monday, the lawsuit was filed in November 2018 by former employees Melanie McCracken and Jess Negrón, alleging gender discrimination as well as sexual harassment and misconduct at Riot Games.

The report also said the lawsuit was followed by two investigations led by California state agencies. Gender issues have been very sensitive in the US while in China this is not the case.