Sony gender discrimination lawsuit hits a roadblock after judge’s ruling

It’s been several months since Sony was hit with a gender discrimination lawsuit, and the judge has finally issued an initial ruling on the matter, per Stephen Totilo at Axios. The allegations came from Emma Majo, a former IT security analyst for the company, who claimed that female employees in the PlayStation division suffered from harassment and pay discrimination and were frequently passed over for promotions and opportunities.

However, Judge Laurel Beeler dismissed many of Majo’s claims this week, leaving her with just three of the initial 13 claims to potentially proceed with. Echoing Sony’s sentiments regarding the amount of factual evidence presented in the case, Judge Beeler found that some of Majo’s claims were lacking in substance, or attributed harassment where there was insufficient evidence. Majo now has 28 days to amend the dismissed claims in an attempt to get them upheld in court.

However, the judge did not dismiss the case outright as Sony had been pushing for, and she noted that the additional declarations from eight other women that were provided last month “may yield new allegations.” Additionally, Majo’s intention to turn the lawsuit into a class-action one may still yield fruit. The ruling has doubtless been a blow to her case, but the fight may not be over just yet.