Sexual harassment and discrimination allegations have been brought against Activision Blizzard and the video game developer is trying to resolve the litigation claims with an $18 million settlement. Activision Blizzard is a popular name in the video gaming industry and has published fan-favorite games like Overwatch, Diablo, World of Warcraft, and many more. This company was acquired by Microsoft in January 2022 for $68.7 million.
Despite being a successful game developer, Activision Blizzard has been accused by the plaintiffs of taking advantage of its employees with discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. A lawsuit has been filed by California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing against Activision Blizzard in August 2021 accusing the company of fostering a “frat boy” culture where the female employees experienced gender discrimination and were coerced to continually fend off unwanted sexual advances and comments by their male co-workers.
A series of complaints were kicked off by the state lawsuit against the company including a lawsuit from the federal government. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed a lawsuit in September 2021 against Activision Blizzard alleging the company of violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act with pregnancy discrimination, sexual harassment, and retaliation. The female staff at Activision Blizzard were denied their rightful promotions, repeatedly faced harassment and were even fired from the organization for complaining about unfair treatment.
Though Activision Blizzard has denied all the allegations of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, they have agreed to resolve the allegations by paying $18 million towards the settlement. The Class Members can recover cash payments depending on individual experiences under the terms of the settlement. Each claim form will be evaluated by EEOC for determining whether the class members were subject to pregnancy discrimination, sexual harassment, or retaliation. The payment amount of each claimant will be decided based on this evaluation.
Activision Blizzard won’t have any say in determining the amount of money to be paid out to each Class Member who will also benefit from injunctive relief under the settlement which aims at preventing workplace discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. The decree will be implemented throughout the companies including offices in Wisconsin, California, Minnesota, New York, Arkansas, and Texas. The company has agreed to the following:
- A neutral third-party equal employment opportunity (EEO) consultant whose actions will be overseen by the EEOC.
- Audits of both current and pending complaints to determine whether the complaints are being handled effectively.
- Submit unannounced audits of present employees to understand whether issues regarding pregnancy discrimination, sexual harassment and retaliation are being addressed properly. Semi-annual reports will be offered to EEOC for review throughout the decree.
- The EEO consultant will review and oversee the company’s policies and procedures for handling complaints. The company policies will also apply to temps and interns, the online gaming environment, and additional policies like workplace relationship policies and alcohol policy will be implemented.
- Provide an implementation of climate surveys as determined by the EEO consultant.
- Offer anti-discrimination and anti-harassment training including civility and bystander intervention. Both the content and effectiveness of all training will be reviewed by the consultant.
- Evaluate the protocols and disciplinary framework to ensure all actions taken by the companies lead to preventive and corrective measures.
- Ensure that all human resource personnel attends the training designed for HR investigations.
- Expand the mental health counseling services which shall be made available to employees who might have experienced sexual harassment.
- Implement a performance review system for supervisors, managers, and human resources personnel including an EEO component.
- A toll-free hotline for staffing agency workers and employees to report complaints which can be registered anonymously and monitored 24*7.
- Create a centralized tracking system for complaints of harassment and discrimination.
- Follow comprehensive reporting and record-keeping mechanisms.
- Create an internal EEO coordinator position who will work with the EEO consultant and ensure compliance with the decree.
Each claimant can have all potentially harmful information removed from their files including unfair negative performance reviews, reclassifying termination as a voluntary resignation, and similar changes which can help them in future employment. According to the settlement website, under both the settlement decree and federal law, Class Members will be protected from retaliation even after participating in the payment process. Some examples of retaliation are discipline, scrutiny, write-ups, termination, demotions, or forced resignation. The consent decree settlement gained the approval of the court on 29th March 2022.
Eligibility for Making Claim: The EEOC Activision Blizzard Consent Decree Settlement is expected to benefit both former and current employees who were employed with Activision Blizzard Inc., Blizzard Entertainment Inc., Activision Publishing Inc., King.Com Inc, or any of their subsidiaries between 1st September 2016 and 29th March 2022.
Settlement Website: EEOCActivisionBlizzardConsentDecree.com
Proof of Purchase: No proof of purchase is applicable.
Potential Claim Amount: Variable
Deadline For Submitting Claim: 08/13/2022
Final Hearing Date: 03/29/2022
Settlement Amount: $18 million
