A lawsuit introduced towards Sony final yr accusing PlayStation of “pay disparity, wrongful termination, and different situations of gender-based discrimination” has been dismissed by america District Court docket of North California.
As first famous by Axios, a ruling launched right this moment has granted PlayStation’s “movement to dismiss”, with crucial part studying (emphasis mine):
The plaintiff’s first amended criticism (FAC) has 13 claims: one collective declare on behalf of herself and a nationwide class beneath the Truthful Labor Requirements Act (FLSA) as amended by the Equal Pay Act; six state-law class claims on behalf of herself and a California class; one declare on behalf of herself and each courses beneath the Declaratory Judgment Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2201; and 5 particular person claims beneath state regulation. Sony moved to dismiss the FAC beneath Federal Rule of Civil Process 12(b)(6), primarily on the bottom that the plaintiff alleges solely unactionable run-of-the-mill personnel exercise and thus doesn’t plausibly plead claims. It additionally moved to strike the claims beneath Rule 12(f) on the bottom that the allegations are “extremely particular person” and don’t set up {that a} class or collective motion is procedurally correct.
The courtroom grants the movement to dismiss (with go away to amend) for many claims as a result of the allegations are principally conclusory, however the next particular person claims survive: statutory and common-law wrongful termination, whistleblower retaliation beneath Cal. Lab. Code § 1102.5(b), and retaliation beneath the California Truthful Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). As a result of the courtroom dismisses the federal declare, although, it doesn’t have jurisdiction over the state claims and so dismisses all claims. The courtroom denies the movement to strike with out prejudice as a result of it’s untimely to determine it primarily based on an inadequately pled criticism.
In reaching this resolution, the courtroom says that the previous PlayStation worker, Emma Majo, failed typically to totally clarify her allegations, with the discovering stating in a single occasion that “the plaintiff merely recited the weather of the declare and didn’t allege any particular details”, and in one other that her claims weren’t “plausibly pled”.
It’s necessary to notice, nevertheless, that this isn’t the tip of the story. Whereas dismissing many of the 13 complaints introduced towards PlayStation on this occasion, the courtroom acknowledges that three—all of them coated beneath state regulation—had benefit, and that the added testimonies of eight girls (as we reported final month) imply “The plaintiff’s allegations are nonetheless in flux”.
“These declarations might yield new allegations”, the ruling provides, earlier than concluding that “the plaintiff might file a second amended criticism inside 28 days”, which mainly says that whereas the courtroom dismissed this specific swimsuit primarily based on Majo’s accounts, it would take one other look when/if a second criticism is filed that features these eight additional testimonies from the outset to allow them to be totally examined.
