The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing has filed a lawsuit against Activision-Blizzard on the ground that the company’s work environment is a hotbed of assault and harassment towards its female employees. The video game behemoth is being accused of not only excluding women from basic corporate benefits like equal pay and promotions, but also for not properly addressing accusations of harassment made within the company.
The lawsuit goes on to state that women within Activision-Blizzard are the constant targets of sexually explicit jokes and advances as the company fosters a “frat boy culture” that invites this kind of behavior.
In the office, women are subjected to “cube crawls” in which male employees drink copious [amounts] of alcohol as they “crawl” their way through various cubicles in the office and often engage in inappropriate behavior toward female employees. Male employees proudly come into work hungover, play video games for long periods of time during work while delegating their responsibilities to female employees, engage in banter about their sexual encounters, talk openly about female bodies and joke about rape.
Further allegations state that an African American employee was not given the same opportunities as male employees who began after she did.
An African American employee noted that it took her two years to be made into a permanent employee while men hired after her were made permanent employees. She also was micromanaged such that her male coworkers were known to be playing video games without any intervention by her supervisor, but her supervisor would call and check on her if she took a break to go on a walk. Another African American employee, who worked in information technology, was similarly micromanaged by her manager unlike the men on her team. When she requested time off of work, her manager made her write a one-page summary of how she would spend that time off when no one else had to do any write-up.
An employee was also allegedly harassed to the point that it led to her suicide after a male supervisor exploited her and coworkers began circulating intimate photos of the employee.
In a tragic example of the harassment that Defendants allowed to fester in their offices, a female emplyee committed suicide while on a company trip due to a sexual relationship that she had been having with her male supervisor. The male supervisor was found to have brought a butt plug and lubricant on this business trip. Another emplyee confirmed that the deceased female employee may have been suffering other sexual harassment at work prior to her death. Specifically, at a holiday party before her death, male coworkers were alleged to be passing around a picture of the deceased’s vagina.
The DEFH is filing an injunction that Activision-Blizzard place safeguards that guarantee further harassment and discrimination are no longer left unresolved and comply with the state’s workplace laws. In addition, it also makes a case for the proper compensation and distribution of benefits for its female employees.
In the time since the lawsuit has become public, Activision-Blizzard has reached out to The Verge to say that the claims made from the two-year investigation are false. The statement itself reads like damage control and is a clear indicator that they do not see any truth in the accusations made against them.
We value diversity and strive to foster a workplace that offers inclusivity for everyone. There is no place in our company or industry, or any industry, for sexual misconduct or harassment of any kind. We take every allegation seriously and investigate all claims. In cases related to misconduct, action was taken to address the issue.
The DFEH includes distorted, and in many cases false, descriptions of Blizzard’s past. We have been extremely cooperative with the DFEH throughout their investigation, including providing them with extensive data and ample documentation, but they refused to inform us what issues they perceived. They were required by law to adequately investigate and to have good faith discussions with us to better understand and to resolve any claims or concerns before going to litigation, but they failed to do so. Instead, they rushed to file an inaccurate complaint, as we will demonstrate in court. 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.
The picture the DFEH paints is not the Blizzard workplace of today. Over the past several years and continuing since the initial investigation started, we’ve made significant changes to address company culture and reflect more diversity within our leadership teams. We’ve updated our Code of Conduct to emphasize a strict non-retaliation focus, amplified internal programs and channels for employees to report violations, including the “ASK List” with a confidential integrity hotline, and introduced an Employee Relations team dedicated to investigating employee concerns. We have strengthened our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and combined our Employee Networks at a global level, to provide additional support. Employees must also undergo regular anti-harassment training and have done so for many years.
We put tremendous effort in creating fair and rewarding compensation packages and policies that reflect our culture and business, and we strive to pay all employees fairly for equal or substantially similar work. We take a variety of proactive steps to ensure that pay is driven by non-discriminatory factors. For example, we reward and compensate employees based on their performance, and we conduct extensive anti-discrimination trainings including for those who are part of the compensation process.
We are confident in our ability to demonstrate our practices as an equal opportunity employer that fosters a supportive, diverse, and inclusive workplace for our people, and we are committed to continuing this effort in the years to come. It is a shame that the DFEH did not want to engage with us on what they thought they were seeing in their investigation.
These types of allegations, as well as the tone-deaf response from the accused, are nothing new for the games industry. Women and other marginalized groups face harassment and discrimination regularly in nearly all of the spaces within the world of video games. Actions are seldom taken which only goes on to create a breeding ground for even more abuse to take place. Women make up roughly 46% of video game players in the United States. Despite making up nearly half of players, women continue to be treated lesser, harassed, and excluded from the benefits of their male counterparts. Fixing the systemic issues that allow harassment to occur unimpeded starts with speaking up for those affected and bringing to light the perpetrators of these actions. No one should feel unsafe or suicidal in what should be a space where everyone can thrive.
