UPDATE - February 28, 2018: A jury ruled in favor of defendant Valve on 2nd November 2017, finding the plaintiff was not discriminated against for transgender or disability reasons, nor dismissed for such.
A former employee just filed a complex lawsuit against the American video game developer Valve, in which he's suing for $3.1 million in damages, alleging misclassification of employment, transgender discrimination, and retaliation for whistleblowing, and more.
Polygon brought the lawsuit to light, and on its site, you can download the related court documents filed by the former unnamed Valve employee.
The employee, who duties included translating content into Spanish and acting as an internal liaison for Spanish-speaking law enforcement, worked in Valve's Washington office. In 2012, she wanted to pursue gender transition in Los Angeles, which Valve approved, in addition to allowing her to work from home, but according to the report, she was required to move from full-time to an independent contractor.
An independent contractor doesn't get as much as full-time employees do, such as health benefits, and the suit alleges that she wasn't paid overtime wages as well.
At this point, the employee filed a report to Valve's human resources department, alleging the company was exploiting people for translation services.
As said on the suit:
The suit alleges that the employee's job was terminated in January within days "without any valid basis". The termination was officially due to the job being relocated, but despite the employee agreeing to relocate, they were terminated.
The employee claims that her termination was "due to her transgender status," and her supervisor "referred to her in a derogatory fashion" by calling her "it."
Valve's legal response was brief. The company denied every single allegation and said that the employee wasn't "damaged in any manner or amount, or at all, as a result of any act or omission by [Valve]."
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