A Activision Blizzard has just been processed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (something like the California Department of Employment and Housing or DFEH) for violating state civil rights and equal pay laws.
According to the Bloomberg, the lawsuit was filed after a two-year investigation at the studio that found the location to be a “fertile ground for harassment and discrimination against women” in which employees constantly had to fend off sexual comments and advances from male colleagues.
In addition, “male employees often arrived at work hungover, played video games for long periods of time during work while delegating responsibilities to co-workers, joked about sexual encounters, talked openly about female bodies, and made jokes about rape. ”
On the issue of discrimination, some women in the company also claimed that they were not promoted for the possibility of becoming pregnant, they were criticized for going out to pick up children at the daycare, in addition to being expelled from the rooms dedicated to breastfeeding so that male colleagues could use the space for meetings .
One of the most extreme cases described in the agency document relates the case of an employee who took her own life while on a company trip in which she was accompanied by a male supervisor. Before her death, she reportedly suffered several cases of harassment and, in one, intimate photos of her circulated during a company party.
In a statement, Activision Blizzard denied the allegations:
“We value diversity and strive to promote a workplace that offers inclusion for everyone. There is no place in our company or in the industry, or in any industry, for any kind of inappropriate behavior or harassment. We take all reports seriously and investigate all complaints. In cases related to misconduct, measures were taken to resolve the problem.”
“The DFEH includes distorted and, in many cases, false descriptions of Blizzard’s past. We collaborated with DFEH throughout the investigation, including providing data and extensive documentation, but they declined to let us know what problems they encountered. ”
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