Activision Blizzard: Internal investigation says harassment and mistreatment of women has not been ignored

Activision Blizzard, a developer of successful video games such as Call of Duty and Diablo, released on Thursday a summary of an internal review of the case investigating harassment and mistreatment of women within the company. According to the company itself “there is no evidence” that top executives have looked the other way.

The company had been in the eye of the storm in July last year, when she was accused of sexism, discrimination and sexual harassment against its employees. In the lawsuit, filed by a state agency in California, United States, the Department of Housing and Just occupation filed a civil lawsuit in which They said the company violated state law by allowing for a “pervasive culture of machismo in the workplace.”

“Contrary to many of the allegations, the board and its outside consultants have determined that there is no evidence to suggest that Activision Blizzard’s senior executives have intentionally ignored or attempted to minimize employee harassment cases. gender occurred and reported “says the text.

The brief was not about the Wall Street Journal report that Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick overturned the HR department’s determination that a co-head of Treyarch, another of the conglomerate – was fired on sexual harassment charges.

“Review of contemporary documentation and statements from relevant persons shows that media criticism of Activision Blizzard’s board and senior executives as insensitive to issues of the the job has no merit“the company said.

However, Activision acknowledged that there were “some proven cases of gender-based harassment,” but said these were not evidence of systemic problems. He also indicated external consultants who said they agreed cwith the conclusions of the board of directors.

“In the years the company has adequately disciplined and fired employees to ensure that our practices are in line with our policies, “he said.” There is simply no place in Activision Blizzard for anyone who does not practice our corporate value of providing a venue. safe, inclusive and welcoming work serve as a model for our industry“.

The report did not address a report that Kotick himself had once threatened to “kill an assistant,” something the company called “an obviously hyperbolic and inappropriate voice message” for which Kotick had already apologized, nor did he address an arbitration agreement reached by Kotick when a flight attendant on a private jet she co-owned said she fired her for complaining of sexual harassment.

all rejected

Activision Blizzard also challenged the California Department of Fair Employment and Construction once again, referring to the agency’s pending lawsuit against it as “highly incendiary allegationsmade for the press “.

The publisher’s original response to the DFEH case was similarly strident, calling it “biased”, “without merit and irresponsible”, “imprecise” and “hasty”. More than 1,000 Activision Blizzard employees have signed a letter condemning the responsecalling it “repulsive and offensive to everything we think our company should stand for.”

The publisher quickly changed tone, with Kotick calling the first response “dull tone” and apologizing for “failing to provide adequate empathy and understanding.”

In addition to the results of the internal review, Activision Blizzard has listed the reforms it has made, including quadrupling the size of its ethics and compliance team since the DFEH lawsuit, the establishment of a zero-tolerance policy on harassment, was filed. resignation to binding arbitration for individual complaints discrimination and sexual harassment.

The request

After two years of investigation, the state agency has collected multiple cases of sexual harassment, wage disparity and other types of direct retaliation against the workers of this entrepreneurial giant which in 2020 declared an income exceeding 8,000 million dollars.

In addition to the large wage differences between men and women within the company, the complaint filed Tuesday with the Los Angeles Superior Court also highlights the lack of women in leadership positions within the company and the difficulties they have in obtaining promotions.

The lawsuit also collects testimonies from female workers who claim that male employees play video games during the working day, delegate responsibilities to their co-workers, engage in sexual jokes and openly joke about rape. There are also cases of reproaches against those workers because of their pregnancies.

According to the lawsuit, an employee committed suicide on a business trip with a male colleague who had brought sex toys.