A lawsuit has been filed against the Valve corporation for alleged discrimination and wrongful
termination among other alleged abuses. The former employee worked mainly as a translator for the
company and states in court documents acquired by Polygon that she was the victim of both
transgender and employee discrimination.
In the legal documents the former employee, who is only referred to by her initials, states that she faced
a lot of discrimination following her gender reassignment surgery. One allegation includes a Valve
employee referring to her as “it”, which is an incredibly dehumanizing way to refer to a transgendered
person. The former employee also states that she faced a very hostile work environment due to her
being transgendered. She alleges that when she contacted the Human Resources department they did
not follow up with her or do anything substantial to assist her with the alleged harassment she was
facing.
The employee also alleges that the company allowed her to move back to Los Angeles to undergo her
gender reassignment surgery. She was allowed to work from home in order to be closer to her doctors
as well as to have time to be able to heal from her surgery. When she actually moved, allegedly, Valve
took away her status as an employee and instead had her working as an “independent contractor.” This
action apparently stripped her of all her employee benefits. Following this the company allegedly told
her that if she could not work in the Washington office that she would need to be let go, leading to an
“unlawful termination” claim that is also put into the lawsuit. Among other alleged labor abuses, the
lawsuit claims that she has hours of unpaid overtime.
In total, the lawsuit will be for 3.1 million dollars. The amount is calculated from a projected loss of
$1,000,000 dollars on her part, the cost of going through the lawsuit, i.e. legal fees, and post and pre
justice interest rates. Valve denies all of these allegations and in a written statement asked that the
lawsuit be dismissed.