Activision Blizzard is dealing with a lawsuit filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing for fostering what the company describes as a “frat boy” office. As first reported by Bloomberg Law, the DFEH sued the gaming big after a two-year investigation whereby it got here to the conclusion that the corporate discriminated in opposition to feminine workers. In addition to receiving smaller salaries than their male counterparts, feminine workers had been additionally allegedly subjected to fixed sexual harassment.

The DFEH enumerated a number of findings from its investigation in its complaint (PDF). Activision Blizzard’s workforce is barely about 20 % ladies, and only a few of them attain prime roles within the firm, the court docket doc reads. Further, those that do attain increased roles earn much less wage and whole compensation than their male friends. Other feminine workers in non-executive roles are additionally paid much less, promoted extra slowly and terminated extra shortly.

DFEH additionally stated that the defendant’s “frat boy” tradition is a “breeding ground for harassment and discrimination against women.” Female workers consistently need to fend off undesirable sexual feedback, the company wrote. They need to endure being groped throughout “cube crawls,” by which male workers would drink alcohol as they make their means round varied cubicles, as properly. The doc talked about one notably egregious case, by which a feminine worker took her personal life throughout a enterprise journey with a male supervisor who introduced intercourse toys with him on the journey. According to Bloomberg, that worker was severely harassed previous to her demise, together with her nude images handed round throughout an organization vacation occasion.

Activision Blizzard’s HR division acquired loads of harassment, discrimination and retaliation complaints, the DFEH stated. However, the defendant allegedly did not take “effective remedial measures in response” to them. Also, folks had been apparently discouraged from making complaints, since human useful resource personnel had been recognized to be near the alleged harassers.

The state company has filed the lawsuit to pressure the online game titan to adjust to California’s office protections. It’s additionally looking for unpaid wages and pay changes for feminine workers.

Activision Blizzard, nevertheless, denies DEFH’s allegations. In a press release, the corporate stated that the company’s lawsuit “includes distorted, and in many cases false, descriptions of Blizzard’s past.” It known as the DFEH’s grievance “inaccurate” and described the lawsuit because the “type of irresponsible behavior from unaccountable State bureaucrats that are driving many of the State’s best businesses out of California.”

The entire assertion, courtesy of Kotaku, reads:

“We worth variety and attempt to foster a office that gives inclusivity for everybody. There isn’t any place in our firm or trade, or any trade, for sexual misconduct or harassment of any sort. We take each allegation severely and examine all claims. In circumstances associated to misconduct, motion was taken to deal with the difficulty.

The DFEH consists of distorted, and in lots of circumstances false, descriptions of Blizzard’s previous. We have been extraordinarily cooperative with the DFEH all through their investigation, together with offering them with in depth information and ample documentation, however they refused to tell us what points they perceived. They had been required by legislation to adequately examine and to have good religion discussions with us to raised perceive and to resolve any claims or issues earlier than going to litigation, however they failed to take action. Instead, they rushed to file an inaccurate grievance, as we’ll reveal in court docket. We are sickened by the reprehensible conduct of the DFEH to tug into the grievance the tragic suicide of an worker whose passing has no bearing in anyway on this case and with no regard for her grieving household. While we discover this conduct to be disgraceful and unprofessional, it’s sadly an instance of how they’ve carried out themselves all through the course of their investigation. It is such a irresponsible conduct from unaccountable State bureaucrats which might be driving most of the State’s greatest companies out of California.

The image the DFEH paints is just not the Blizzard office of immediately. Over the previous a number of years and persevering with for the reason that preliminary investigation began, we’ve made vital modifications to deal with firm tradition and mirror extra variety inside our management groups. We’ve up to date our Code of Conduct to emphasise a strict non-retaliation focus, amplified inside packages and channels for workers to report violations, together with the “ASK List” with a confidential integrity hotline, and launched an Employee Relations workforce devoted to investigating worker issues. We have strengthened our dedication to variety, fairness and inclusion and mixed our Employee Networks at a world stage, to offer further help. Employees should additionally bear common anti-harassment coaching and have executed so for a few years.

We put great effort in creating truthful and rewarding compensation packages and insurance policies that mirror our tradition and enterprise, and we attempt to pay all workers pretty for equal or considerably related work. We take quite a lot of proactive steps to make sure that pay is pushed by non-discriminatory elements. For instance, we reward and compensate workers based mostly on their efficiency, and we conduct in depth anti-discrimination trainings together with for many who are a part of the compensation course of.

We are assured in our capacity to reveal our practices as an equal alternative employer that fosters a supportive, various, and inclusive office for our folks, and we’re dedicated to persevering with this effort within the years to return. It is a disgrace that the DFEH didn’t wish to interact with us on what they thought they had been seeing of their investigation.”