A proposed class action lawsuit against PlayStation is back in the spotlight after seven former employees and one current employee commented on gender discrimination in the workplace.
According to Axios, eight women across PlayStation offices in the U.S. shared company-wide misconduct, including “disparaging comments, unwelcome advancements, dismissive ideas of female team members, and lack of advancement opportunities for female employees. .
A 16-year veteran of Sony Online Entertainment and Sony PlayStation said women were not considered for senior positions as much as men during “calibration sessions”. In one such meeting, only 4 women were considered for promotion, compared to 70 men. During the meeting, she heard comments about female candidates’ home lives — comments that weren’t aimed at male employees’ promotions.
In a statement provided for the lawsuit, a former female program manager said she believed Sony was “incapable of properly handling a toxic environment” and said at least 10 women had left her office in California within four months.
According to Axios, before she left the company in January, she shared a letter with female employees in which she wrote to inform her superiors of “gender bias, alleged discrimination against pregnant women and the refusal of senior HR personnel to take action on these accounts.”
A hearing on Sony’s request to dismiss the lawsuit will be held as early as April.
Back in November, PlayStation filed a lawsuit alleging sex discrimination and wrongful dismissal. The plaintiffs, sued by a former PlayStation IT security analyst, claim that Sony “willfully, knowingly and/or knowingly pays women less than men for substantially the same or similar work” in a “willful violation” of labor law.
The lawsuit alleges that Sony’s PlayStation “created a work environment that discriminated against female employees,” and in addition to sexism, the claim cited examples of “harassment and wrongful dismissal.”
Among other allegations, the lawsuit says the plaintiffs’ termination was due to gender bias against women, as well as against those who talk about gender bias.
Back in February, Sony denied the allegations and asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit for lack of facts.
