Sexual harassment, gender and racial discrimination, the lawsuit just keeps going.
The most recent update of the Activision lawsuit is that the US Government is now getting involved. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (United States SEC) is stepping in with their own investigations following the DFEH’s investigation that began in July.
Activision Blizzard is claiming that the DFEH (California Department of Fair Employment and Housing) investigations have been “disgraceful”, “distorted” and have displayed “irresponsible behaviour” throughout.
During the course of last month, August, the DFEH threw accusations at Blizzard for supposedly destroying documentation that would have been vital to further investigations; to which the company responded that they have complied in every way with the relative requests to support the undergoing reviews.
The SEC has requested six personnel files of previous employees and records of communication between CEO Bobby Kotick and executives based on the sexual harassment and discrimination claims. Let’s hope that these aren’t among the supposedly destroyed documentation.
Despite the fact that the company brought in WilmerHale (an American law firm with a history of union-busting) at the end of July to assist with the improvement of its harassment policies and other such complaints, Helaine Klasky, a representative for Blizzard, says that they are cooperating with the SEC regarding the citation against the company and a select few of the higher staff.
“WilmerHale has extensive experience helping organizations strengthen their workplace environment by making improvements around policies and procedures related to discrimination, harassment, and retaliation issues.” – Activision spokesperson.
There’s already a list of executives and managers who have stepped down since the uproar began, including Blizzard President J. Allen Brack (replaced by Jen Oneal), senior vice president of global HR Jesse Meschuk (replaced by both Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra), Jesse McCree (whose name was used for an Overwatch character which will be getting a renaming), and chief compliance officer Frances Townsend.
A Quick Look At The Timeline Of Events
- Lawsuit Filed – 20 July 2021
- Bloomberg report and Activision Blizzard statement – 21 July 2021
- Activision Blizzard Executive Emails Staff – 22 July 2021
- Frances Townsend Steps Down – 23 July 2021
- WoW Production Stops – 25 July 2021
- Blizzard Employees Sign Open Letter Supporting Lawsuit
- Activision Blizzard employees organize a walkout – 27 July 2021
- Activision CEO Apologizes For “Tone Deaf” Response – 27 July 2021
- WoW Team To Remove Inappropriate References – 27 July 2021
- Activision Employees Walk Out and Respond to CEO Letter – 28 July 2021
- Ubisoft Employees Sign Letter Of Support For Blizzard Employees Walkout– 28 July 2021
- Kotaku’s “Cosby Suite” Report – 28 July 2021
- Shareholders Investigate Activision Blizzard Amidst Lawsuit – 29 July 2021
- Ubisoft CEO Responds To Open Letter – 29 July 2021
- Ubisoft Open Letter Group Issue “Final Response” – 30 July 2021
- Further Reports – 30 July 2021
- Blizzard Entertainment President Leaves Company – 3 August 2021
- Activision Blizzard CEO Issues Statement During Second-Quarter Earnings Call – 3 August 2021
- Activision Blizzard Second-Quarter 2021 Financial Results Press Release Includes Statement – 3 August 2021
- Bloomberg Reports Blizzard’s Senior Vice President Of HR Has Left The Company – 3 August 2021
- Investor Files Class Action Lawsuit – 3 August 2021
- SOC Investment Group Issues Letter To Activision Blizzard – 5 August 2021
- Activision Blizzard Confirms Departure Of Diablo 4 Director And Lead Designer – 11 August 2021
- References To Developers Removed From World of Warcraft and Overwatch – 26/27 August 2021
- Activision Blizzard Hires New HR boss – 14 September 2021
- Activision Blizzard Employees Accuse Company Of Union Busting – 14 September 2021
So far this should bring you up to speed with what’s what regarding the happenings of the Activision Blizzard lawsuit in a nutshell. This is going to be dragged out over quite some time so there will be plenty more updates, if you would like a more detailed look into any of these events please let us know and we’ll get it covered.