Pokemon Go: Ex-Employee Files Lawsuit Against Niantic for ‘Systemic Sexual Bias’

Niantic, the AR developer known for creating Pokémon Go, is facing a lawsuit for “systemic sexual bias.” The lawsuit was filed by a woman who was laid off from the company in recent layoffs. The woman is suing anonymously, accusing Niantic of creating a sexist workplace environment. The lawsuit is also seeking class-action status.

As reported by The Verge: the anonymous accuser is an Asian woman who was revealed in the complaint against the company. She has been on Niantic’s payroll since February 2020. When she joined, she was earning $70,000, which was later increased to $84,000 after a year. However, she discovered that her male co-workers at her workplace were earning more than her, even though they had lesser responsibilities and were lower in the company’s hierarchy.

The pay disparity was easily visible. The complaint reports that in 2022, she was paid $105,000 per year, which was $22,000 lower than her male coworker’s $127,000. Even though she was higher in the company’s hierarchy, she still earned less. In 2023, she received a raise that brought her salary to $115,000, but this was still $12,000 short of her male coworker’s salary. Naturally, she took this up with Niantic’s Diversity Equity and Inclusion Director and Principal People Partner, but did not get the response she expected.

The response she got was that the “male upper management at Niantic were hostile to her complaints or voiced concerns about sexism or sexual bias in the workplace.” Moreover, she also brought up these concerns to other female colleagues through a female-only group in the company called Wolfpack. However, she had to leave this group too, as she was told that discussing these issues could lead to her “job evaluations” being impacted.

The story does not end there. When Wolfpack surveyed its staffers, it concluded that female employees view Niantic as a sexist workplace and that it does not offer any benefits for female employees. Many female employees also complained about equal pay. When the survey was brought to the upper management of the company, Wolfpack was immediately asked to scrap anything that pointed towards a “boys club” or sexism in the workplace at Niantic. Furthermore, they were also told not to survey staffers without the approval of upper management. We have yet to see any official response from Niantic on the situation.