Valve Getting Sued for Transgender Discrimination, and More

So when you hear that Valve is getting sued, you probably think it's because fans are getting fed up with waiting for Half-Life 3 and are finally taking matters into their own hands, which is ridiculous because it's obvious by now that Valve has transformed in everything but name into a purely Steam-operated company and basically has no interest in making games themselves anymore. Regardless, you wouldn't think the once good-guys of gaming would be getting sued for something like discrimination, and yet... here we are.

A former employee at Valve, thus far unnamed, is suing Valve for the sum of $3.1 million, citing, " transgender discrimination, misclassification of employment, retaliation for whistle blowing" and more.

That's quite the list.

First discovered by Polygon, the figure worked primarily as a Spanish translator and worked in the Washington office. When she started perusing a sex-change operation, she had to move to Los Angeles, and while Valve approved her move, and allowed her to work from home, it also decided that she would have to change from full-time employment to contract work, which would disqualify her for company benefits like insurance and overtime pay .

But that's where the whistle-blowing allegation comes in, because not long after being told that, she sent an email to Valves human resource department (and later posted--but removed--the comment on Reddit), where:
 

“She complained that these unpaid translators, often young minors, were being exploited and lured to work for [Valve] based on false promises made by her supervisor. Indeed, they would work hours upon hours based on promises that their work could lead to a paid position, but in the end [he] invariably found excuses to renege on his promises. [Employee] felt bad for the exploited minors and complained to Human Resources about this issue, and other complaints involving [him] creating a hostile work environment and mistreating employees.”

Sounds pretty bad, right? According to her, it was so bad, that not long after she sent it, Valve changed their mind, and decided to not keep her on the team when she moved to LA. So now she's suing them for one million in general damages, one million for special damages, $150,000 for unpaid wages and penalties, and another million for loss of earnings.

Valve, of course, has denied all of these claims and requests that the courts dismiss the case.

We're obviously not in any position right now to judge who's in the right here, not enough information has been made public. Still, of all the companies to be accused of transgender discrimination, Valve wouldn't have even been in my top five (which, for the record: Konami, Nintendo, WildCard Studios, Sony, and Gaijin Entertainment), and yet, here we are. But is the former employee simply playing the transgender card because it's a hot-button issue? Or was their overseer really calling her an "it" and belittling her?

Honestly, I'd really rather it be the latter. But I hardly get a say in these matters, now do I?