Sexism lawsuit: California accuses Blizzard of obstructing investigation

Activision Blizzard is said to have obstructed California’s DFEH investigation into a sexism lawsuit against the game company. That’s what the DFEH claims in a revised complaint it filed on Monday. Accordingly, Blizzard must prevent employees from sharing information with investigators, among other things with confidentiality agreements.

In addition, Activision Blizzard allegedly withheld evidence, transcripts, and even tore up documents related to the investigation. Activision Blizzard denies the allegations by the American game magazine IGN. “The allegation that we destroyed the documents is incorrect. We have taken reasonable steps to preserve information relevant to the FEH investigation.” Axios was the first to report the modification of the app, technology magazine The Verge Document published on the web.

Sexism and bullying

In July, the California Department of Employment and Housing (DFEH) filed a lawsuit against Blizzard. It’s primarily about discrimination against female employees: Women have been systematically denied, harassed, and intimidated at Blizzard, she says. It is said that male employees regularly came to the office under the influence of alcohol and heard sexist remarks on the agenda. According to the DFEH, in some cases superiors have encouraged this behavior, and complaints to HR have been largely ignored.

After an initially defiant reaction, Activision Blizzard meanwhile applauded the improvement and took initial measures. CEO Bobby Kotik, for example, announced that all directors would be re-evaluated. A few days later, it became known that Blizzard President J. Allen Brack mentioned in the complaint was leaving the company. Since then, other Blizzard executives have left.

Thousands of Activision Blizzard employees previously wrote an open letter to company management: “Our values ​​as employees are not reflected in the words and actions of our managers. We no longer trust our managers to take responsibility for workforce safety in order to set their own interests,” they wrote. Among other things, the DFEH is demanding compensation for those affected.

(Immolate)