Editor’s Note: The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing has filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, alleging that the company has engaged in abuse, discrimination and retaliation against its female employees. Activision Blizzard has denied the allegations. Full details of Activision Blizzard’s lawsuit (content warning: rape, suicide, abuse, harassment) will be updated as new information becomes available.
According to reports, twenty employees “stepped out” Activision Blizzard and 20 more were “reprimanded“After complaints about misconduct. The company has spent the past few months dealing with numerous investigations and complaints related to Activision Blizzard’s alleged toxic work environment.
Early this summer The California Department of Housing and Fair Employment filed a lawsuit against Activision over allegations of a toxic workplace, particularly for female employees and others with marginalized identities. Most recently, Activision Blizzard announced that it reached an $ 18 million settlement agreement with the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which sued the video game company after a separate three-year investigation of that of the DFEH. In response to the settlement, the DFEH may be preparing an objection to the settlement between the EEOC and Activision Blizzard, citing “Irreparable damage to the interest of the legal claims of the DFEH”.
In a letter to Activision Blizzard staff (originally reported by El Financial Times but later posted online), Chief Compliance Officer Frances Townsend (via The edge) explained that more than 20 game developers and a “few“The supervisors left the company and more than 20 “He faced other types of disciplinary actions.” That said, its board members remain unchanged. Townsend said El Financial Times that Activision Blizzard has yet to comply with all requests from its employees, but that more changes are coming. He also said that Activision’s board of directors and CEO Bobby Kotick gave him a “blank check“To reform the company.
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Details surrounding Activision Blizzard’s workplace action and other response efforts have yet to be detailed. According to The edge The editor’s ethics and compliance team will see the addition of 19 full-time employees, and the company plans to “Triple your investment in training resources.” These actions and provisions are Activision Blizzard’s efforts to comply with workplace protection laws.
Last summer, Activision employees protested the company’s leadership following statements by Townsend and then-Blizzard Entertainment president J. Allen Brack who denied the allegations facing the company. Although Brack has since left, Townsend is still handling her internal issues. seeing as Activision Blizzard Legal matters are ongoing, more information about its developments is likely to continue to appear.
Source: Activision Blizzard, The Financial Times, The edge
