Niantic, best known for developing Pokémon Go, is accused of "systemic sexual bias"

On Friday, a former Nantic employee filed a lawsuit against the company, accusing it of unequal treatment of female employees compared to male employees, as well as people of colour, including denying them equal pay. The lawsuit, which has class action status, claims that Niantic has created a kind of "boys' club". The plaintiff herself was laid off during the company's job cuts last week, which affected about 230 employees.

Here's What We Know

The plaintiff speaks on the basis of anonymity under the name "Jane Doe", but is described as Asian. She claims that she started working at Niantic in February 2020 with a salary of $70,000. Later that year, her salary was raised to approximately $84,000, but in 2021, she learned that her male colleague was receiving more money despite having a lower position and responsibilities.

According to the statement, in 2022, she was paid approximately $105,000 per year, while her male colleague, who had a lower position, was paid $127,000 per year. In the spring of 2023, her salary was raised to $115,000 per year, which is still less than her colleague. It was also at this time that she noticed that the pay range for her position, which was published by Niantic in 2023, was $10 thousand lower than her current salary.

The plaintiff discussed her concerns with other employees, and sexism and unequal pay were also discussed in a resource group for women called Wolfpack.

However, when she raised her concerns with Niantic's Director of Equity and Inclusion and Human Resources Manager, she was told that her complaints were not taken seriously and that she should not raise concerns about sexism or gender bias in the workplace. In meetings, her supervisors also stated that her performance appraisal was negatively affected by the fact that she discussed problems with colleagues. According to the statement, the plaintiff immediately stopped participating in the Wolfpack group because she was afraid that it could have a negative impact on the group members or herself.

Niantic has not yet commented on the situation.

Source: The Verge