California sues Activision-Blizzard over discrimination and sexist, toxic work culture

Activision-Blizzard has had an abysmal couple of years, and it’s about to get much worse, as the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing has filed a civil rights and equal pay lawsuit against Activision and Blizzard on behalf of its victimized employees.

As first reported by Bloomberg Law, the DFEH alleges that its multi-year investigation determined that Activision Blizzard has discriminated against women when it comes to everything from salary and incentives to promotions and executive representation. Pregnant and potentially pregnant women were reportedly subject to specific discrimination, as were female employees of color.

It only gets worse from there; the California agency says Activision-Blizzard fosters a “pervasive ‘frat boy’ workplace culture,” with rape jokes, “cube crawls,” sexual harassment, groping, and so forth. The suit cites “numerous” complaints about this harassment made to no less than J. Allen Brack and suggests victims were “discouraged” from complaining. Former World of Warcraft developer Alex “Furor” Afrasiabi is specifically identified as a serial harasser.

The most horrifying example is buried on page 15 of the complaint; the DFEH refers to the suicide of a female employee who’d been having a relationship with her male supervisor and suffered harassment at the hands of staffers who were allegedly passing around photos of her genitalia.

The suit demands compensatory and punitive damages, unpaid wages, relief, and attorneys’ fees for the California DFEH. If that department sounds familiar, it’s because it’s the same state agency suing Riot Games over similar harassment and discrimination claims and a refusal to fully cooperate with the state’s investigation.

But instead of admitting the truth and acknowledge their huge problems in this particular matter, Activison-Blizzard made a statement saying " “We are sickened by the reprehensible conduct of the DFEH to drag into the complaint the tragic suicide of an employee whose passing has no bearing whatsoever on this case and with no regard for her grieving family. While we find this behavior to be disgraceful and unprofessional, it is unfortunately an example of how they have conducted themselves throughout the course of their investigation. It is this type of irresponsible behavior from unaccountable State bureaucrats that are driving many of the State’s best businesses out of California.”

You can read the entire statement here https://www.ign.com/articles/activision-blizzard-sued-by-california

And the full article here https://massivelyop.com/2021/07/21/california-sues-activision-blizzard-over-discrimination-and-sexist-toxic-work-culture/