Genie Harrison

Harrison is a fierce advocate for victims of sexual abuse, sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation. She has “an inextinguishable fire” burning inside of her to right these types of wrongs, she said.

“Growing up in Texas, I grew up around a lot of in-your-face ‘isms. Confederate-flags-on-trucks ‘isms. I always knew that it was wrong,” Harrison said. “I’ve felt very strongly that I wanted to try to help people who were wrongly targeted because of who they are.”

When women employees of video game developer Riot Games were dissatisfied with the proposed settlement of their class action lawsuit, they tapped Harrison to take over the case. McCracken et al. v. Riot Games Inc., 18STCV03957 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Nov. 6, 2018). Riot had agreed to pay $10 million to around 1,000 former and current employees who alleged they’d been subjected to gender discrimination and sexual harassment.

Harrison withdrew the motion to approve the settlement, and is now in full litigation against Riot. The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing also weighed in, stating that the women could instead be entitled to $400 million in back pay from wage differences. Harrison has teamed with the department as well as the Department of Labor Standards & Enforcement as additional parties against Riot, and is proceeding with discovery to analyze the alleged pay discrepancies.

“Part of what we deal with in that case is forced arbitration agreements,” Harrison said.

The confidentiality of forced arbitration agreements allows employers to avoid public accountability for a culture of harassment or unequal pay.

“The employees engaged in a walk-out, and agitated against the forced arbitration agreement – against the systemic ‘isms they were experiencing. I have so much respect for that grassroots movement within Riot Games,” she said.

“It’s only through this kind of collective action that we’re able to find significant change.”

Harrison is also hoping to make positive change as the next president of the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles. One of her goals as president will be to support and increase access to justice.

Due to previous cuts and a budget shortfall resulting from the pandemic, Harrison said jury trials have been severely impacted, resulting in a substantial backlog of cases.

“Access to justice is a very real issue,” she said. “We’ve got to work together as an organization, with the judiciary, the Association of Southern California Defense Counsel and stakeholders, to move cases forward, help trials get back on track, and do that safely.”

— Jennifer Chung Klam