2023 was a very bad year for Niantic. The company has come under fire for its changes to Pokemon GO’s remote raids, they recently laid off 230 employees, and the mobile game has been plagued with all kinds of bugs and issues. However, their troubles are not over yet, because now a lawsuit has been filed against them.
The lawsuit, which seeks class action status, was filed by an anonymous Asian woman who worked for Niantic for several years before they became one of the recently fired employees. The employee accuses the company of devaluing the work of its female employees and women of color. Not only that, but they accuse Niantic of denying equal pay to its employees and women of color.
The employee says that, despite having a salary of $84,000 by the end of the year, she found out “around” 2021 that her colleague was getting more money, even though she had more responsibilities and a higher position than him. At the time she was fired, it was still a problem. Her male counterpart was already paid $127,000 a year in 2022, and she got a raise in the spring of 2023, resulting in $115,000 a year in earnings. To make matters worse, the employee discovered that Niantic had published an average salary range for her job title and level, and saw that she was paid more than $10,000 less than the lower end of that range.
The employee claims she discussed her issues with other employees, and sexism and equal pay were brought up in Wolfpack, Niantic’s employee resource group for women. The employee also went to Niantic’s Director of Equality and Inclusion and General Partner of People to voice her concerns, only to have both “make it clear” that “they and male senior management at Niantic were hostile to her complaints or raised concerns about sexism or sexual bias in the workplace”. At that same meeting, managers were also present, and the employee says she was told that because she spoke about it to her colleagues, her job evaluation was affected and she was paid below her grade. The employee says that they then “immediately unsubscribed” from the Wolfpack group because she feared that “her association with the Wolfpack would put Wolfpack employees or herself at a disadvantage.”
Finally, the employee mentions in the lawsuit that senior management was informed of the Wolfpack investigation. Wolfpack found in a survey that “many female employees viewed Niantic as having a sexist work culture that puts female employees at a disadvantage.” Not only that, but the majority of respondents “expressed concerns about equal pay at Niantic.” After being informed of the survey’s findings, the employees allege in the lawsuit that “Niantic’s chief marketing officer, Mike Quigley, demanded that the Wolfpack remove references to the Boys Club and similar comments about sexism in the workplace from its presentation to Wolfpack members about the results. surveys”. The Wolfpack were told they could not question personnel without senior management approval. Overall, the complaint accuses Niantic of creating a “boys club.” The Verge reached out to Niantic for comment, but did not immediately hear back.
