Activision Blizzard has been hit with a $54 million lawsuit as a result of the 2020 sexual discrimination case that rocked the industry. If you recall, back in 2020 when the world was in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and dealing with challenges we had never imagined before, a historical lawsuit was opened against Activision Blizzard for some nasty sexual harassment claims and unfair wages across female staff.
These claims stemmed from workplace sexual acts and unequal compensation based on sex. The lawsuit was brought forward by the California Civil Rights Department. It shined a spotlight on a number of workers at the company and multiple male employees were fired after some of the nasty stories came out of the studio.
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A big focus of the lawsuit was to shed light on the wage gap between male and female workers. Female employees claimed they’d received inequitable pay between 2015 and 2020 with many of them severely underpaid in the same roles as male employees.
The court has now issued a $46 million fine on Activision Blizzard which will be used to compensate workers for the wage gap. The remainder $9 million will then go to lawyer’s fees.
The California Civil Rights Department said:
“No court or any independent investigation has substantiated any claims of systemic or widespread sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard, nor that Activision Blizzard senior executives ignored, condoned or tolerated a culture of systemic, harassment, retaliation or discrimination.”
The court also found that CEO Bobby Kotick wasn’t aware of the internal harassment claims at the company. Employees reported that he was made aware of most of the violations but failed to act upon them. The court says that isn’t the case.
“California remains deeply committed to promoting and enforcing the civil rights of women in the workplace. If approved by the court, this settlement agreement represents a major step forward and will bring direct relief to Activision Blizzard workers. At the California Civil Rights Department, we will continue to do our part to fight for the rights of our state’s residents.”
