Activision Blizzard King is looking to settle its lawsuit under the California Civil Rights Department.
The California Civil Rights Department was previously known as the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing. Regardless of the name, this is the same party that sued Activision Blizzard King in 2021.
The California agency’s suit was based on claims of discriminatory hiring and employment practices against women, as well as a frat boy culture that encouraged sexual misconduct.
Activision insisted that these claims were false, but several employees insisted otherwise. After nearly a third of the staff signed an open letter to the leadership, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, who himself faced accusations of discrimination, promised an internal review. Activision employees than staged two walkouts.
Other consequences of the lawsuit included Bobby Kotick taking a huge pay cut, and the exit of former Blizzard president J. Allen Brack. Several employees let go in the middle of this lawsuit, including a dozen staff in the just-unionized Raven Software, were alleged to have been done in retaliation for this suit, and organizing efforts among their workers.
While there is speculation that Activision sought to be acquired by Microsoft because of this suit, what is known factually is that Microsoft talked to Blizzard employees as they started the acquisition process. After being told they intended to form a union, Microsoft went on record that they would respect those employees rights to do so. Microsoft would later agree to a labor neutrality agreement with the Communication Workers of America (CWA), covering all Activision Blizzard employees once the deal went through.
As reported by Video Games Chronicle, this settlement will cover all claims made against Activision from 2015 to 2020. Of the $ 54 million settlement, roughly $ 9 million is only for attorney’s fees, and over $ 46 million will be paid out to female employees, to cover inequitable pay they received in this period.
The California Civil Rights Department also put on record that they found no confirmation of claims of widespread sexual harassment at the company, and that the management did not create and tolerate a culture of discrimination. The California agency also found no evidence of wrongdoing from Kotick, Activision Blizzard as a company, or its management.
The agency is withdrawing all the abovementioned claims, and the settlement is only to address the gender pay gap. Several state expert witnesses were able to prove the gender pay gap existed, but not to the degree to having a pay disparity between workers at the same rank.
As of this writing, no response has come out from the employees who have grouped together to prompt this investigation and for Activision Blizzard to make changes. For their part, Activision Blizzard released a statement that they are ‘gratified’ to have reached this agreement with the agency. Microsoft has not shared a statement, but not doing so may be part of the labor neutrality agreement they signed with the CWA.
