(Updated) Activision Blizzard Lawsuit Expanded

[Starym 3,779]

 

Update: Activision Blizzard has responded to the new allegations, as a spokesperson replied to IGN's request for comment:

Quote

Throughout our engagement with the DFEH, we have complied with every proper request in support of its review even as we had been implementing reforms to ensure our workplaces are welcoming and safe for every employee. Those changes continue today, and include:

- Several high-level personnel changes;

- Revamped hiring and recruiting practices requiring diverse interview panels;

- Greater transparency on pay equity;

- Expanded and improved training and investigative capabilities for human resource and compliance staff;

- Created investigation teams outside of business units to support greater independence;

- Restructured divisions to support greater accountability;

- Enhanced review processes to include evaluation of managers by employees;

- Clear boundaries on workplace behavior with a zero-tolerance approach to harassment and other actions that diminish or marginalize.

We strive to be a company that recognizes and celebrates the diverse talents and perspectives that lead to the creation of great, globally appealing entertainment. We have provided the DFEH with clear evidence that we do not have gender pay or promotion disparities. Our senior leadership is increasingly diverse, with a growing number of women in key leadership roles across the company. We share DFEH’s goal of a safe, inclusive workplace that rewards employees equitably and are committed to setting an example that others can follow.

And later added:

Quote

With regards to claims that we have destroyed information by shredding documents, those claims are not true. We took appropriate steps to preserve information relevant to the DFEH investigation.

_______________________________________________

Original article:

California's Department of Fair Employment & Housing has expanded its lawsuit against Activision Blizzard to include temporary workers and accusations of tampering with the investigation, Axios reports.

According to Axios, the ongoing lawsuit (filed in late July) was amended this Monday to redefine the group that was allegedly wronged by Activision Blizzard:

Quote

• A copy reviewed by Axios specifically mentions that California's protections against anti-harassment, equal pay and other equal employment opportunity protections "exist for employees and contingent or temporary workers."
• Throughout the lawsuit, the word "employees" has been changed to "workers" in reference to harassment, sex discrimination regarding pay and other allegations.

The new additions also allege that Activision Blizzard interfered with the lawsuit, via NDAs that require employees to talk to the company before talking to the DFEH, and via its involvement with the law firm hired to investigate the issues internally:

Quote

• The suit claims that this "directly interferes" with DFEH's ability to "investigate, prosecute, and remedy workplace discrimination and harassment violations on behalf of employees and contingent or temporary workers."
• It alleges, in part, that "documents related to investigations and complaints were shredded by human resource personnel" in violation of what it asserts is the game company's legal obligation to retain them pending the investigation.

You can read the full story over at Axios.

[Dejo93 984]

Yep, powergrab 

 

[Mascaron 40]

8 minutes ago, Dejo93 said:

Yep, powergrab 

What... a power grab for the workers?

[Dejo93 984]

9 minutes ago, Mascaron said:

What... a power grab for the workers?

if you think they're in any way having an effect in this situation, you're incredibly naive 

[Mascaron 40]

10 minutes ago, Dejo93 said:

if you think they're in any way having an effect in this situation, you're incredibly naive 

Huh? The workers are the ones that experienced the harassment and awful working conditions and told Californian investigators about it. If they then want to unionize, let them.

[AceOfSevens 3]

1 hour ago, Dejo93 said:

Yep, powergrab 

So Activision/Blizzard's awful conduct may have benefitted some other parties? Like, if my house burns down, some contractor is going to get work out of it, but that doesn't mean when my neighbor gets arrested for arson, he gets to say the contractors are the real criminals.

[elmurufdd 45]

just when u think they cant make this situation any worse we find yet another rock layer time to dig a little deeper 

[AliokWOWDB 7]

4 hours ago, Starym said:

It alleges, in part, that "documents related to investigations and complaints were shredded by human resource personnel" in violation of what it asserts is the game company's legal obligation to retain them pending the investigation.

They're simply switching to paperless.  ^/s

[xendrius 9]

Axios is fake news though, they are american state media, a iluminati propaganda tool. They will never expose corruption within the gov for example.

[Zelendel 9]

This is all Activision will need for a hostal take over of Blizzard and then these lawsuits wont be anything as they will not be inforcable.

[Zelendel 9]

14 minutes ago, xendrius said:

Axios is fake news though, they are american state media, a iluminati propaganda tool. They will never expose corruption within the gov for example.

No need to expose it. Everyone already knows the government is corrupt. They all are. Always have been and always will be.

[darkgreenwax 410]

Unions only exist because bad companies exist. If a company fails its employees, the union is there in the shadows. If an employee loves the company they work for, the last thing they want is union involvement.

 

tldr; if there's a union tease, there's usually a reason.

[Steveson 193]

8 hours ago, Dejo93 said:

if you think they're in any way having an effect in this situation, you're incredibly naive 

So what you're saying is "They should shut up and deal with their own problems while multibillion dollar corporation does whatever it wants with their rights as human beings"?
Sheesh

[Nym85 72]

Perhaps a clarification, they did not shred documents that DFEH requested of them so as to hide them, rather they failed to keep records for as long as they are required by law, shredding them FAR earlier. While this is certainly problematic (I have a small forest of archives that I keep in my business for years after and they cannot keep some employee payment records for three years???) it also is less malicious with the issue being non-compliance due to greed and poor business practice rather than actively trying to impede an investigation.

[Laragon 269]

5 hours ago, Nym85 said:

Perhaps a clarification, they did not shred documents that DFEH requested of them so as to hide them, rather they failed to keep records for as long as they are required by law, shredding them FAR earlier. While this is certainly problematic (I have a small forest of archives that I keep in my business for years after and they cannot keep some employee payment records for three years???) it also is less malicious with the issue being non-compliance due to greed and poor business practice rather than actively trying to impede an investigation.

I think you're giving them way too much benefit of the doubt. Even the most basic of corporate understanding is you don't shred something for years. They may claim "oh that was a while ago", but what's a "while" to them when the documents were only a few years old... Did they shred them the day they made them or did they shred them like three months ago when they were covering up for the higher-ups that the CLEARLY were doing with reports already?

[Arcling 877]

19 hours ago, Dejo93 said:

Yep, powergrab 

Please stop linking to garbage channels, they are living from outrage to outrage. These are some of the worst places to get your info from.

[Dejo93 984]

1 hour ago, Arcling said:

Please stop linking to garbage channels, they are living from outrage to outrage. These are some of the worst places to get your info from.

How is Arch garbage? Kinda curious, really

[Arcling 877]

1 hour ago, Dejo93 said:

How is Arch garbage? Kinda curious, really

What was said above, they are based on outrage and clickbait. Low effort, dumb takes, like telling people that companies supposedly are pushing any sort of ideology (when this is only for show, they only care for profit) etc. This channel in question was so bad that Games Workshop didn't want anything to do with it (used to have Warhammer in name).

[Dejo93 984]

38 minutes ago, Arcling said:

What was said above, they are based on outrage and clickbait. Low effort, dumb takes, like telling people that companies supposedly are pushing any sort of ideology (when this is only for show, they only care for profit) etc. This channel in question was so bad that Games Workshop didn't want anything to do with it (used to have Warhammer in name).

you're welcome to your own opinion. And he did say that companies are not pushing ideologies, but are in it for the money. He just despises the virtue signaling and pandering 😉

 

Plus, i like my content creators being edgy. I hope we see some1 like Pewds say the gamer word again XD

[Mascaron 40]

1 hour ago, Dejo93 said:

you're welcome to your own opinion. And he did say that companies are not pushing ideologies, but are in it for the money. He just despises the virtue signaling and pandering 😉

 

Plus, i like my content creators being edgy. I hope we see some1 like Pewds say the gamer word again XD

"Edgy" seems to be an understatement or is being used as cover for Arch's past racist comments. See reddit posts here and here.

[BobTheHuman 72]

- Revamped hiring and recruiting practices requiring diverse interview panels;

We strive to be a company that recognizes and celebrates the diverse talents and perspectives 

 

Next expansion's Alpha test day 1

Players: Don't implement these trash systems into the game

Blizzard: We are proud to announce that the WoW team is now 50% female

[Dejo93 984]

1 hour ago, Mascaron said:

"Edgy" seems to be an understatement or is being used as cover for Arch's past racist comments. See reddit posts here and here.

Ah yes, the Discord quotes. Oh no how terrifying XD

 

God, I still can't believe people think that is somehow relevant

[Laragon 269]

53 minutes ago, Dejo93 said:

Ah yes, the Discord quotes. Oh no how terrifying XD

 

God, I still can't believe people think that is somehow relevant

So it's not relevant that a source is openly racist and supports child pornography when they're referring to a discrimination case? Feel like that context of a source is extremely relevant...

[CheLives 6]

Guys, don't feed the troll, just report it. It's violating all the posting rules. 

[Meurik 33]

On 8/25/2021 at 3:40 AM, Zelendel said:

This is all Activision will need for a hostal take over of Blizzard and then these lawsuits wont be anything as they will not be inforcable.

What "Hostile" takeover would that be? Blizzard is already owned by Activision (as part of ActivisionBlizzard). A takeover, is when you take control of a company that you don't currently own. Basically Disney buying FOX, or if ActivisionBlizzard bought EA etc.

Of course, ActivisionBlizzard higher-ups will want to assign certain personnel as oversight to make sure the Blizzard departments are whipped in line, and that the sort of behavior that led to the lawsuit, is no longer tolerated. It's also possible these Activision higher-ups are part of the problem, we don't yet know. This problem seems to be rather widespread across the entire industry (Ubisoft, Riot, EA etc)