Former PlayVS employee sues for wrongful termination and pregnancy discrimination in LA court

High school esports platform, PlayVS, is being sued for wrongful termination by a former employee who also outlined a pattern of harassment and a hostile workplace environment.

Rachel Waynick, a former quality assurance analyst at PlayVS, has filed a suit against the company for wrongful termination among other complaints. The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on March 9, first reported by Jacob Wolf.

In full, the suit alleges that PlayVS put Waynick on a performance improvement plan after she told her manager that she was pregnant on June 10, 2021. Waynick then complained to the company’s Human Resources department and claims she was ignored.

She also claims during that time that she was “bullied and treated with hostility in the workplace” with led her to experience “extreme stress.” She also had other pregnancy complications which led her to taking a leave per her doctor’s orders, according to the filing.

Waynick returned to the office from leave to find she was locked out of her computer and was terminated later that same day. Waynick started working at PlayVS in January of 2021 and was fired on August 16, 2021.

In total, Waynick claims PlayVS has violated five counts of California labor which includes discrimination, retaliation, failure to prevent discrimination, pregnancy leave violation and wrongful termination.

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Waynick has filed complaints with the Department of Fair Housing and Employment. PlayVS has yet to comment on the lawsuit.

PlayVS high school esports & its tumultuous past

This law suit is another piece of bad press for the Los Angeles-based company after allegedly misleading Epic Games in its previous partnership with Fortnite, according to The Jacob Wolf Report.

https://twitter.com/delane/status/1513589894895001608?s=20&t=yxrV2kQdbNV1gOz3fPHS_w

The company has also reportedly sent cease and desist emails to high school esports organizations claiming to have exclusive rights to games made by Activision Blizzard and Nintendo, according to The Washington Post.

PlayVS’ contentious relationship with non-profit high school esports organizations was also recently profiled by Upcomer.

• Read more: Sources: Largest college esports league to launch in landmark partnership

PlayVS founder Delane Parnell has accused both The Washington Post and Jacob Wolf of pushing false stories for clicks and created his own YouTube channel to dispel those supposed inaccuracies.