In November 2014, plaintiffs Melanie McCracken and Jessica Negron, employees of Riot Games Inc, allegedly began to be discriminated against by their employer as result of being women. Specifically, they claimed that Riot Games failed to pay women the same rate as men. McCracken and Negron, acting individually and as representatives of a class of approximately 1,000 members, sued Riot Games Inc. The class consisted of all temporary agency contractors, and current and former female Riot Games employees who have not signed general releases and who worked at Riot Games in California since Nov. 6, 2014. The class alleged that Riot Games’ actions constituted unequal pay, discrimination, retaliation and harassment in violation of the Equal Pay Act and the Fair Employment and Housing Act. McCracken was ultimately removed as a plaintiff, and plaintiff Gabriella Downie was added as a representative. Plaintiffs’ counsel asserted that Riot Games had a custom and practice of paying women less than similarly-situated men. Counsel contended that Riot Games would assign women to jobs that Riot Games did not compensate as highly as it did for those jobs populated by men, even when women are equally qualified for the more highly compensated jobs. Counsel also contended that Riot Games promoted similarly-situated and qualified men more frequently than women who are equally or more qualified for promotion. Plaintiffs’ counsel further contended that Riot Games assigned or demoted women to lower paid positions more often than similarly-situated men, even when those women’s qualifications were equal to or greater than the men’s qualifications. In addition, counsel contended that Riot Games created, encouraged and maintained a work environment that exposed its female employees to discrimination, harassment and retaliation on the basis of their gender or sex. Defense counsel denied the allegations, and contended that there were policy changes in place at Riot Games., Negron and Downie, acting individually and on behalf of approximately 1,000 class members, sought recovery of lost wages based on the difference in wages that they were allegedly not paid as women compared to the wages earned by male employees.