Department for the Protection of Labor and Housing Rights (DFEH) the state of California filed a lawsuit against the publisher Activision Blizzard… This is reported by the edition Bloomberg with reference to the claim referred to in Los Angeles Supreme Court…
After a two-year investigation, officials said the company maintains a culture of “student brotherhood” in which women are systematically discriminated against and sexually harassed. Moreover, one of the employees committed suicide.
According to the department, about 80% of Activision Blizzard’s staff are men, which has influenced the office culture. Thus, alcohol parties have become commonplace, during which drunken employees crawl around the office and periodically harass women (about 20% of the staff).
Male employees often play video games during the working day, delegating authority to female employees. Jokes about rape also came into use.
The management of the publishing house did not intervene in the situation. Moreover, women were systematically denied promotions because they might become pregnant.
Employees are also criticized if they temporarily leave the office to pick up children from kindergarten. There have been cases of women being kicked out of breastfeeding facilities, which male colleagues used to meet and negotiate.
An unhealthy situation develops in the studio too Blizzard… The team especially distinguished itself World of warcraftin which male leaders often harass female colleagues, make offensive comments about rape, and so on.
Even a case of driving to suicide was recorded. One of the employees committed suicide while on a business trip with a male executive who had brought “butt plugs and lubricant” on the trip (quote from Kotaku). Before the incident, the woman was sexually harassed, and at one of the company’s parties, employees handed out nude photographs of her.
The Department of Fair Employment and Housing requires Activision to comply with employee protection measures in the workplace, as well as specifies the need for salary adjustments, benefits for female employees, fines, and so on.
In response, representatives of the publishing house accused the department of using distorted and false descriptions of Activision Blizzard’s past. The top managers were especially angered by the fact that the information about the suicide was made public. The company stressed that they cooperated with officials throughout the investigation.
“But they refused to tell us what problems they noticed … The picture that DFEH paints is not today’s work environment at Blizzard,” – explained in Activision Blizzard.
See also: “Not enough boobs”: Ubisoft and Quantic Dream went to war with the union
