Former Valve Employee Sues For $3.1 Million, Alleging Wrongful Termination [UPDATE: Jury Rules For Valve]

Former Valve Employee Sues For $3.1 Million, Alleging Wrongful Termination [UPDATE: Jury Rules For Valve]

A complex lawsuit was recently filed against Valve, in which a former employee is suing for $US3.1 ($4) million in damages, alleging transgender discrimination, misclassification of employment, retaliation for whistle blowing, and more.

Update – 6:00pm, January 19, 2018: It was recently brought to our attention that on November 2 of last year, a jury ruled in favour of Valve, finding that the plaintiff was not discriminated against nor dismissed due to being transgender or disabled.

The lawsuit was brought to light by Polygon, where you can also download the related court documents filed by a currently unnamed former Valve employee.

Valve has not yet responded to my request for comment.

The employee, whose job primarily consisted of translating content into Spanish and acting as an internal liaison for Spanish-speaking law enforcement, worked in the company’s Washington office. In 2012, she wanted to pursue a gender transition in Los Angeles. Valve approved the move, in addition to allowing her to work from home, but reportedly required the employee to move from full-time to an independent contractor.

An independent contractor isn’t as entitled to as much as full-time employees, such as health benefits. The suit alleges she was not paid overtime wages, either.

Around this time, the employee filed a report to Valve’s human resources department, alleging the company was exploiting folks for translation services.

Per the suit:

Former Valve Employee Sues For $3.1 Million, Alleging Wrongful Termination [UPDATE: Jury Rules For Valve]

Within days, the suit alleges, the employee’s job was terminated “without any valid basis” in January. Officially, the termination was due to the job being relocated, but despite the employee agreeing to move, they were terminated.

The employee says the termination was “due to her trans-gender status,” and her supervisor “referred to her in a derogatory fashion” by calling her “it.”

In a legal response, Valve was extremely brief. The company denied every single one one of the allegations and said the employee wasn’t “damaged in any manner or amount, or at all, as a result of any act or omission by [Valve].”

You can read Valve’s entire response here.


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