The state of California has recently expanded their demand for discrimination against Activision Blizzard, Axios reports. In addition to suing the massive gaming conglomerate for its culture of harassment and mistreatment of employed women, the Department of Fair Employment and Housing is also studying the treatment of temporary workers.
The updated lawsuit alleges that Activision Blizzard did not cooperate with the California investigation. He cites Activision Blizzard’s non-disclosure agreements, the requirement that employees must speak with the company before contacting the state department, and the hiring of the WilmerHale law firm, which destroyed the unions as examples of the company’s lack of cooperation.
Read more: Everything has happened since the Activision Blizzard lawsuit was filed
Activision Blizzard is also accused of causing human resources personnel to destroy documents relevant to the California investigation, which by law is required to be kept and made available to investigators.
The extension of the scope of the lawsuit comes two weeks after news broke the terrible working conditions at Activision Blizzard’s various quality assurance offices, many of which hire hired workers instead of salaried workers to avoid paying benefits. And while poor pay, long hours and lack of job security are bad enough, some sources also spoke of discriminatory attitudes toward trans workers.
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“Blizzard’s legacy is” You work for Blizzard, aren’t you lucky? “Said an anonymous tester Kotaku. “But the reality is that we are constantly dealing with difficult people, in a culture that cares little about mental health and expects the same kind of smile whenever retail. The only way to really change that is to change the culture and attitude of those responsible. ”
Activision Blizzard, which develops and publishes a list of high-profile games included Pro Skater by Tony Hawk, World of Warcraft, i Overwatch, has been a lightning rod for criticism after the state of California original demand of July 20th coming to light. Since then, employees organized a massive output, a second lawsuit was filed and various remarkable figures they have left the company for their alleged roles in encouraging abuse or allowing it to continue.
But hey a new one Call of Duty is coming out, so I guess it’s not bad at all. Activision has even done a favor to everyone hiding the fact that he is involved in the development of the game. What a company!
Updated (24/08/2021, 19:03 ET): An Activision Blizzard spokesman was provided Kotaku with a statement on the expansion of demand. We have included it in full below.
Throughout our commitment to the DFEH, we have complied with all appropriate requests to support its review, even as we have been implementing reforms to ensure that our jobs are welcoming and safe for all. employees. These changes continue today and include:
- Several high-level staff changes
- Renewed hiring and hiring practices that require multiple interview panels
- Greater transparency in pay equity
- Expanded and improved training and research capabilities for human resources and compliance staff
- Research teams were set up outside the business units to support greater independence
- Restructured divisions to support greater accountability
- Improved review processes to include management appraisal by employees
- Limit workplace behavior limits 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 engaging entertainment globally. We have provided the DFEH with clear evidence that we have no pay or gender promotion differences. 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 creating a safe and inclusive workplace that rewards employees fairly and is committed to setting an example that others can follow.
In a follow-up email, the file The spokesman also denied allegations by the state of California that Activision Blizzard destroyed vital evidence for the case.